THE ANALYSIS OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTRUCTORS AT TOBB UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND

TECHNOLOGY REGARDING INSET CONTENT

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

BY

ĐNCĐ GÜLTEKĐN

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR

THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN

THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

SEPTEMBER 2007

Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences

____________________ Prof. Dr. Sencer Ayata

Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts.

____________________ Prof. Dr. Wolf Konig

Head of Department

This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the Master of Arts.

____________________

Assist. Prof. Dr. Betil ERÖZ Supervisor Examining Committee Members

Assist. Prof. Dr. Betil Eröz (METU, FLE) ___________

Assist. Prof. Dr. Nurdan Özbek Gürbüz (METU, FLE) ___________

Dr. Işıl Günseli Kaçar (METU, DBE)___________

iii

I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work.

Name, Last name:Đnci Gültekin Signature:

iv

ABSTRACT

THE ANALYSIS OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTRUCTORS

AT TOBB UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY REGARDING INSET CONTENT

Gültekin, Đnci

M.A., Department of English Language Education

Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Betil Eröz

September 2007, 137 pages

The purpose of this study was to analyze the extent of instructors at

TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Department of Foreign

Languages regard in-service training programs crucial for their professional

development. Another aspect of the study was to identify the professional

needs of the instructors teaching preparatory classes as well as to determine

the preferred instructional methods of an INSET program. The final aim of

the study was to determine whether there are statistically significant

differences between novice and experienced instructors regarding their needs

and expectation of an in-service training program.The study was conducted

among thirty-nine instructors who are teaching preparatory classes at TOBB

ETU, DFL. The chairperson of the DFL also took part in the study.

Data from the 39 instructors were collected through questionnaires

which were developed to uncover the opinions of instructors in terms of the

characteristics of effective in-service training programs, to identify the needs

of the instructors and determine the instructional methods preferred in-service

training program. The questionnaires included both Likert scale and open-

ended items. Moreover, 50-minute lessons of 10 instructors were video

recorded. Video recordings aimed to identify the needs of the instructors that

v

should be addressed through an in-service training program. Finally,

interviews were conducted with 10 instructors whose classes were video

recorded. The aim of the interviews was to enable the instructors to reflect on

the findings of the questionnaires and the video recordings. Another interview

was conducted with the chairperson of the DFL to uncover to what extent his

perceptions about in-service training activities correlate with those of the

instructors.

Data collected through the instruments were analyzed both

quantitatively and qualitatively. Close-ended items were analyzed via the

SPSS program and mean scores for each item were calculated besides an

independent sample t-test. The qualitative data were analyzed through content

analysis.

The results of the study revealed that the instructors believe INSET is

crucial for their professional development, they would like to keep on track

with new developments in the field of ELT and participate in seminars and

conferences as part of INSET programs. In terms of the professional needs, it

was found that instrcutors need to be trained on teaching speaking skills and

pronunciation, written and oral correction, promoting student autonomy,

dealing with classroom management problems, teaching mixed-ability

groups, raising language awareness of students and reflecting on their own

experience. The t-test results demonstrated that there was a statistical

significance between the answers of novice and experienced instructors

concerning being trained in ‘teaching vocabulary,’ ‘teaching grammar’ and

‘improving in written and oral correction strategies.’ It was found that

experienced teachers are particularly interested in training sessions on

teaching grammar, teaching vocabulary, and improving written and oral

correction strategies.

As a result of the findings, an ongoing INSET program model was

proposed for the Department of Foreign Languages at TOBB ETU.

Keywords: In-service training, teacher training, professional development

vi

ÖZ

TOBB EKONOMĐ VE TEKNOLOJĐ ÜNĐVERSĐTESĐ ĐNGĐLĐZCE OKUTMANLARININ HĐZMET ĐÇĐ EĞĐTĐM ĐÇERĐĞĐNE ĐLĐŞKĐN

ALGILAMALARININ ĐNCELENMESĐ

Gültekin, Đnci

Yüksek Lisans, Đngiliz Dili Öğretimi Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Yard. Doç. Dr. Betil Eröz

Eylül 2007, 137 sayfa

Bu çalışmanın amacı TOBB Ekonomi ve Teknoloji Üniversitesi

Yabancı Diller Bölümü’nde görev yapan Đngilizce okutmanlarının hizmet içi

eğitimi profesyonel gelişimlerinde ne ölçüde önemli olarak düşündüklerini

belirlemektir. Çalışmanın bir başka boyutu ise hazırlık sınıfında görev yapan

Đngilizce okutmanlarının hizmet içi eğitim programında uygulanacak olan

öğretim yöntemlerine ilişkin tercihlerinin yanı sıra okutmanların profesyonel

ihtiyaçlarını belirlemektir. Diğer bir amaç ise deneyimli ve deneyimsiz

okutmanların ihtiyaçları arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir fark olup

olmadığını ortaya koymaktır. Bu çalışma, TOBB ETÜ Yabancı Diller

Bölümü hazırlık sınıflarında görev yapan otuz dokuz okutmanın desteğiyle

yürütülmüştür. Ayrıca, Yabancı Diller Bölümü Başkanı da çalışmada yer

almıştır.

Veriler, hizmet içi eğitimin özelliklerine ilişkin okutman görüşlerini,

okutmanların ihtiyaçlarını ve okutmanların tercih ettikleri öğretim

yöntemlerini belirlemeye yönelik maddelerin yer aldığı anket yoluyla 39

okutmandan elde edilmiştir. Ankette Likert ölçeği maddeleri ve açık uçlu

sorular yer almaktadır. Bunun yanı sıra, 10 okutmanın 50-dakikalık

derslerinde video kaydı yapılmıştır. Video kayıtları hizmet içi eğitim

sırasında üzerinde durulması gereken okutman ihtiyaçlarını gözlemlemek için

yapılmıştır. Son olarak, dersleri kayıt edilen 10 okutman ile birebir

vii

görüşmeler yapılmıştır. Görüşmelerin amacı okutmanların anket ve video

kaydına ilişkin bulgular üzerinde yorum yapmalarını sağlamaktır.

Okutmanların hizmet içi eğitime ilişkin görüşleri ile ne ölçüde paralellik

gösterdiğini öğrenmek açısından, Yabancı Diller Bölümü Başkanı ile de

ayrıca görüşme yapılmıştır.

Veri kaynaklarından elde edilen bilgiler nicel ve nitel olarak

incelenmiştir. Kapalı uçlu maddeler SPSS programı aracılığıyla analiz edilmiş

ve her bir madde için ortalama değerler hesaplanmıştır. Deneyimli ve

deneyimsiz okutmanlar arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir fark olup

olmadığını belirlemek için, bağımlı olmayan t-testi hesaplanmıştır. Nitel veri

içerik analizi yoluyla incelenmiştir.

Çalışmanın sonuçları okutmanlar için hizmet içi eğitimin profesyonel

gelişim açısından önemli olduğunu, Đngiliz Dili Eğitimi alanındaki yeni

gelişmeleri takip etmek istediklerini ve hizmet içi eğitim çerçevesinde

seminer ve konferanslara katılmaya istekli olduklarını ortaya koymuştur.

Profesyonel gelişim açısından, okutmanların, kendi deneyimleri üzerinde

yansıtıcı değerlendirme yapma, konuşma becerileri öğretimi ve telaffuz,

yazılı ve sözlü hata düzeltme, öğrenci özerkliğinin arttırılması, sınıf yönetimi

ile ilgili sorunlar, karma-beceri düzeyli sınıflar, öğrencilerin dil

farkındalıklarını arttırma gibi alanlarda eğitim görmeye ihtiyaçları olduğu

tespit edilmiştir. T-testi sonuçları deneyimli ve deneyimsiz okutmanlar

arasında ‘kelime öğretimi’, ‘dilbilgisi öğretimi’ ve ‘yazılı ve sözlü hata

düzeltme yöntemlerine ilişkin anlamlı fark olduğunu ortaya koymuştur.

Deneyimli okutmanların kelime ve dilbilgisi öğretimi ile yazılı ve sözlü hata

düzeltme stratejileri ile ilgili eğitim almaya daha fazla istekli oldukları tespit

edilmiştir.

Bulguların sonucunda, TOBB ETÜ Yabancı Diller Bölümü için

sürdürülebilir bir hizmet içi eğitim programı modeli önerilmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Hizmet içi eğitim, öğretmen yetiştirme, profesyonel

gelişim

viii

To my dear husband and unborn baby

ix

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude for my thesis supervisor Assist Prof. Dr.

Betil Eröz for her genuine interest, invaluable guidance, feedback and

encouragement during the preparation of this thesis. I would also like to express my

special thanks to Assist. Prof. Dr. Nurdan Özbek Gürbüz and Dr. Işıl Günseli Kaçar

for their contributions to this thesis.

I am deeply grateful to Assist. Prof. Dr. Semih Şahinel, the chairperson of

TOBB ETU, DFL for his valuable collaboration throughout the study with which it

became possible for me to write this thesis. I also owe a lot to all DFL members who

participated in this study with their precious ideas and suggestions. I am particularly

grateful to my friend Fatih Ekinci for his assistance in video recordings and Taner

Yapar for SPSS analysis. I am especially indebted to my friend Leyla Silman

Karanfil for accompanying me during the exhausting library work. I would also like

to express my gratitude to Yasemin Cengiz, Şermin Vardal Ocaklı who supported

and encouraged me all through the study.

Many thanks to Gazi University preparatory unit staff and especially to the

academic coordinator for his cooperation for conducting the pilot questionnaire.

My greatest thanks to my parents and family and more importantly to my

dearest husband, Serkan, for their continous encouragement and support throughout

this study and my life.

x

TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM.........................................................................................................iii

ABSTRACT.……………………………………………………………………....iv

ÖZ………………………………………………………………………………….vi

DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………...viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………..…..ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………….x

LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………….xiii

LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………...xiv

CHAPTERS

1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………..…1

1.1. Introduction………………………………………………………..……1

1.2. Background to the Study……………………………….………………5

1.3. Purpose of the Study ………….……………………….……….……....7

1.4. Significance of the Study..…….………………………….…………….7

1.5. Research Questions……...…….………………………………….…….8

2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE………………………………………………9

2.1. Introduction…………………………………….……………………...9

2.2. Language Teaching…………………………………….……………...9

2.3. Teacher Education, Teacher Development and Teacher

Training………………………………………………………………….....11

2.3.1. Teacher Education……………………………………………….11

2.3.2. Teacher Development……………………………………………15

2.3.3. Teacher Training…………………………………………………16

2.4. Models of Teacher Training……………....…………………….…….21

2.4.1. Wallace’s Training Models………………………………………21

2.4.2. Participant-centered Approach…………………………………...24

2.4.3. Palmer’s Approaches…………………………………………….25

2.4.4. Ur’s Model……………………………………………………….26

2.5. In-service Training …………………………………………………….26

2.6. Why INSET Programs Fail…………………………….………...……32

xi

2.7. INSET Programs Abroad……………….……………………………..34

2.8. Related Research Studies in Turkey ………............………...……….36

2.9. Reflective Teaching………………………………...………………..…40

3. METHODOLOGY………………………..…….………………………....42

3.1. Introduction………………………………………..…………………..42

3.2. Participants of the Study………………………………….…………..42

3.3. Data Collection Instruments…………………….……………………47

3.3.1. Questionnaires……………………………………………………47

3.3.3.1. Reliability………………………………………………..48

3.3.2. Class Video Recordings…………………………………………..49

3.3.3. Interviews…………………………………………………………50

3.4. Database......………………………………...………………………… 52

4. RESULTS………………………...……………………………………...….53

4.1. Introduction………………………………………………..…………...53

4.2. The opinions of instructors and administrator at TOBB ETU,

DFL concerning in-service training in terms of its scope,

instructional methods and trainer profile ........................……………...…55

4.2.1.1.The Name of the Unit…………………………………………...64

4.2.1.2.Instructional Methodology for INSET………………….……….69

4.2.1.3. Aim of the prospective INSET program………………………. 74

4.3. The professional needs of the instructors that should be

addressed by an in-service program …………………………………………..76

4.3.1. Teaching Mixed-ability Groups…………………………………..79

4.3.2. Teaching Pronunciation and Teaching Speaking Skills…………..79

4.3.3. Promoting Student Autonomy…………………………………….81

4.3.4. Instruction Giving Strategies……………………………………...82

4.3.5. Error Correction Strategies………………………………………..84

4.3.6. Feedback Giving Strategies……………………………………….87

4.3.7. Lesson Planning…………………………………………………...90

4.3.8. Classroom Management…………………………………………..91

4.4. The difference between novice and experienced instructors in terms

of their professional needs………………………………………………....95

xii

5. CONCLUSION……………………………..……………………….…..…104

5.1. Introduction……………………………………………..……………104

5.2. Summary of the Study…………………………………….....………104

5.3. Findings……………………………………………………………….105

5.3.1. Instructors’ and administrator’s in TOBB ETU’s, DFL

opinions of INSET in terms of characteristics, scope and

instructional methods……………………………………….105

5.3.2. The professional needs of the insructors that should be

addressed……………………………………………………107

5.3.3. The difference between novice and experienced instrcutors in

terms of their professional needs…………………………..108

5.4. A Proposed Model for an Ongoing INSET Program in TOBB

ETU’s DFL ………..……………………………………………………109

5.5. Implications for Further Study …………………………………......114

5.6. Limitations of the Study ………………………….……………….115

5.7. Conclusion............................................................................................115

REFERENCES……………………………………………………..……….…117

APPENDICES

A. QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE INSTRUCTORS AT TOBB ETU,

DFL………………………………………………………………………....…124

B. SUBJECT CONSENT FORM…………………………………………..129

C. OBSERVATION TOOL FOR IDENTIFYING TEACHERS’

NEEDS……………………………………………………………………….. 130

D. INTERVIEWS QUESTIONS FOR THE CHAIRPERSON…………....132

E. SAMPLE INTERVIEW………………………………….………………133

F. SHEET FOR THE POLL ABOUT INSET UNIT NAME……..……….137

xiii

LIST OF TABLES TABLES Table 1 The teacher training and teacher development associations scale………….21

Table 2 Criteria for effective INSET………………………………………………..31

Table 3 Gender distribution of the participant instructors…………………………..43

Table 4 Undergraduate degrees of preparatory unit staff…………………………..43

Table 5 Educational background of the preparatory unit staff……………………..44

Table 6 Total teaching experience of the participants……………………………...44

Table 7 Teaching experience of instructors at TOBB ETU………………………..45

Table 8 Participation in a previous INSET program……………………………….46

Table 9 Distribution of the participants possessing a formal teaching certificate….46

Table 10 Items related to characteristics and instructional methods of INSET…….56

Table 11 Items related to the needs of instructors………………………...….…….78

Table 12 T-test results for the comparison of the needs of novice and experienced

instructors…………………………………………………………………98

xiv

LIST OF FIGURES FIGURES

Figure 1 Descriptive Model of Teaching...................................................................14

Figure 2 The Process of a Teacher Training Course………………………………..19

Figure 3 The Craft Model of Professional Education……………………………...22

Figure 4 Applied Science Model…………………………………………………...23

Figure 5 Reflective Model………………………………………………………….24

Figure 6 The Organizational Structure of INSET Design in TOBB ETU’s DFL...110

Figure 7 The Proposed Model for INSET program in TOBB ETU’s DFL……….112

1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Introduction

International channels of communication have expanded due to

globalization; hence, the need to learn another language and foreign language

instruction has gained significant popularity. As English is the most frequently

used language in trade, international relations, science and technology,

emphasis has been given to English Language Teaching (ELT) in Turkey so

that Turkish citizens may be able to keep up with the technological, scientific

and educational developments in the world (Ortaköylüoğlu, 2004).

As the demand for learning English as a foreign language has increased in

Turkey, it has become necessary to hire larger numbers of English language

teachers. In order to meet the increasing demand, the Higher Education

Council has not only opened new faculties of education at various Turkish

universities, but now also offers students in the departments of English

Language and Literature, Translation and Interpretation, American Language

and Literature, and Linguistics teaching certificates, provided that they

complete additional courses. Owing to the fact that teachers with different

educational background are being hired at universities, there is a growing need

to train these teachers in ways that meet their diverse needs and minimize the

discrepancies in their professional performance.

Meeting the need for English language teachers involves more than just

increasing numbers. It is also crucial to keep currently practicing foreign

language teachers in their profession, ie. to increase their level of job

satisfaction and to provide them with skills that promote their effectiveness.

Due to the changing roles of educators in the last quarter of the 20th

century, foreign language teachers (hereafter EFL)are generally not the

2

dominant classroom figures they used to be; rather, they act as facilitators who

provide students with strategies to function well in terms of using the language

(Murdoch, 1994). As English has become the world language, EFL are now

expected to be more competent in their professions, and to apply new

techniques and methodologies that will enhance their professional skills. The

need to increase the effectiveness of EFL teachers in such student-centered

classrooms has hastened the establishment of professional development

programs for teachers in Turkey.

Learning a foreign language has become vital for many types of people in

Turkey; and the purposes and profiles of these learners vary in terms of their

needs and aims. Keeping up with all the developments in English Language

Teaching usually enhances teachers’ ability to meet the diverse needs of their

students. Indeed, further training via in-service training programs aims at

maximizing the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process.

Fullan (1991) states that professional development is the sum of total

formal and informal learning experiences throughout one’s career from pre-

service education to retirement. Teachers may develop themselves, expand

their knowledge and improve their skills via formal professional development

programs, namely by means of teacher training and teacher development

seminars (p.326).

Pre-service and in-service programs are unique professional development

opportunities for teachers. Lange (1990) describes teacher development as a

continual process of intellectual, experiential and attitudinal growth. She

regards pre-service and in-service programs as important for pre-professional

and professional development. Language teachers’ continued education and

professional development are closely linked to their teaching performance;

indeed, they establish a bridge between knowledge in the field and classroom

practice (Şentuna, 2002). Like language learners, language teachers have a

variety of needs. Their expectations of professional development programs

vary in terms of knowledge and attitudes. It is essential that these needs and

expectations are catered to in pre-service and in-service programs, for taking

teachers’ needs into consideration not only increases program effectiveness,

3

but also empowers participants and increases the likelihood that they will

become more effective teachers.

The utmost aim of all teacher training programs is to promote teacher

standards and enhance the quality of education and teaching. Due to the

increasing need to educate and employ effective teachers, most educational

institutions encourage their teachers to take part in teacher training programs

which aim at enhancing the quality of teaching in their own settings. Wallace

(1991) states that language teachers must assume responsibility for their own

development, and that for this reason, they should take part in in-service

training programs (hereafter INSET).

As a consequence of recent changes in perceptions of teacher development

and efficacy, in-service training programs have been designed frequently by

the In-service Training Department of Ministry of Education, state and private

universities and some foundations like the English Language Education

Association (INGED/ Đngilizce Eğitim Derneği) and the British Council. To

this end, several state and private universities have set up their own INSET

units. Associations like INGED and the British Council provide short and long

term INSET courses for language teachers. Publishing companies also sponsor

and host many national and international seminars and conferences conjointly

with universities, due to the new emphasis on promoting instructional

efficiency.

INSET programs are especially important because pre-service preparation

does not always lead to the expected positive outcome. Furthermore, rapid

changes in the field of education – for example, the establishment of new

methods like Collaborative Language Teaching and Web-based Instruction –

force institutions and teachers to keep up-to-date via INSET programs. INSET

programs also stimulate and maintain teachers’ morale, as cooperation among

the participants creates a more positive working environment in institutions

(Harris & Bessent, 1994).

Altun (1992) summarizes the major purpose of in-service education as

aiding schools when they attempt to improve teacher instruction by

implementing new educational programs and by helping teachers acquire skills

4

and attitudes essential to the roles they are to play in the new programs (p.96).

Another function is to supplement teachers’ pre-service preparation and to

facilitate their professional growth during their productive years.

Teacher training programs are particularly essential for novice teachers.

Drape et al. (1997) warn that if teachers’ work places do not support or

generate a positive attitude to continuing learning during the early years of

occupation, this bodes ill for the future development of the profession,

especially in times characterized by fast technological, social and curricular

change. Thus, the rationale behind many pre-service and in-service programs is

to ease teachers’ adaptation to this dynamic, continuous and exhausting

teaching process and to help teachers overcome obstacles on their own.

The fact that many Turkish universities employ quite a number of novice

teachers in the departments of foreign languages has led them to set up their

own in-service training units. Several universities, such as Bilkent University,

Middle East Technical University, Çukurova University, Sabancı University,

and Başkent University, have set up their own teacher training units to

empower their teachers and enhance their skills. Concern for providing a better

quality education and improving teacher quality is the underlying reason for

the establishment of these in-service training units.

Ur (1996) states that continuous teacher development and progress can

forestall or solve problems caused both by first-year stress and later burn-out.

Thus, it can be inferred that in-service training programs are as crucial for

experienced teachers as they are for novices.

The aim of teacher development programs is to increase teachers’

awareness of their competencies and professional skills and generate positive

changes in behaviors of teachers-learners (Şentuna, 2002). Identifying and

taking into account the perceptions and needs of the teachers taking part in in-

service programs is essential for ensuring positive developments in teacher

attitudes and knowledge.

Dubin and Wong (1990) emphasize that INSET usually takes place for

a specific purpose; therefore, gathering information at the outset in order to

5

obtain a meaningful analysis of needs is crucial. Koç (1992) suggests that

organizers should first determine the needs of the teachers and then select the

teachers to participate in in-service training. Such a needs analysis procedure

should be conducted before the training program.

With the aim of meeting the demand for language teachers, universities

hire new instructors every academic year. Because some of these instructors

are novices and still others lack teaching experience at the university level,

training sessions which ease these teachers’ adaptation to that particular

university’s system are necessary. INSET programs aim to enhance teacher

skills by providing resources which render teachers competent in the

classroom. Furthermore, INSET programs are considered essential as they

inform teachers of new developments in the field and contribute to their

professional development. Still, it is of utmost importance to take teacher-

participants’ needs into account in order to maximize the effectiveness of such

training programs.

1.2. Background to the Study

TOBB University of Economics and Technology (hereafter TOBB ETU)

is a university that recruits instructors every year. In the last two years, forty

new instructors have been hired in TOBB ETU’s Department of Foreign

Languages (hereafter DFL). The teaching experience of most of these

instructors is not more than five years. The DFL is currently composed of 45

instructors, one chairperson, one academic coordinator and one administrative

coordinator, a Curriculum Development Unit (CDU), a Testing and

Evaluation Unit (TEU) and an Information Technologies Unit (ITU)

Instructors support instructors with different purposes. The DFL offers an

intensive English preparatory program for incoming students at three different

levels. DFL instructors are contracted to teach 20 hours per week.

Currently, there is no in-service training unit in the department. In the

2004-2005 academic year, a Certificate of Teaching for English Language

Teachers (CERTELT) program was offered to instructors in the department.

6

Program attendance was compulsory. Yet, the training program did not prove

to be very successful as it was a standard program in terms of the course design

and objectives. Its design took into account neither the trainee teachers’

individual needs and expectations nor the English language preparatory

program and curriculum at the time.

Although INSET unit has not been established yet, a project named

“Collaborative Training” was carried out in January, 2006 by the

administration to promote professional development and create a path to

teacher autonomy. In this project 36 English instructors were involved. First,

during the needs analysis step, informal interviews were held with the

instructors. Secondly, administration came up with possible topics to be

studied in the area of English Language Teaching. These topics were

cooperative learning, constructivism, active learning, multiple intelligences,

creative thinking, computer-based learning, web-based learning, and NLP.

Instructors were asked to choose one of these topics, do research on it and

modify a lesson which is placed in the curriculum keeping to the theory they

were expected to present. It took two months to prepare the presentations.

During this period, teachers worked in different groups and they developed

group dynamics as well as cooperative learning. Then, the presentations were

given in terms of regular sessions. This project gave the instructors the

opportunity to be a trainer and a trainee at the same time, which fostered

teacher autonomy accordingly. Besides this in-house training practice, DFL

sent 3 instructors to Pilgrims Teacher Training courses abroad and 12

instructors to Bodrum to participate in teacher training programs organized by

Pearson-Longman in the summer of 2006.

The chairperson of the department is aware of the need to establish an

INSET unit in the department, as professional development is crucial for the

commitment of the teachers to the workplace and to their fields. However, until

now there has been no attempt on the part of the department to explore its

instructors’ needs for an in-service training program. Fortunately, the DFL

recognizes the importance of keeping abreast of trainee values, professional

7

needs, expectations and preferences so that the preparatory program

accomplishes its aims and the degree of staff satisfaction can be maximized.

1.3. Purpose of the Study

The current study proposes to pinpoint the needs and perceptions of the

instructors recruited to TOBB ETU’s DFL as pertains to the concept of teacher

training, teacher training activities, and the scope and sequence of an INSET

program.

The study attempts to gather information about the current professional

needs of all the instructors, in addition to their expectations of an INSET

program planned to be implemented in the Department. Regardless of the

extent of their teaching experience, all 39 instructors teaching preparatory

classes in the DFL participated in this study. This is due to the fact that an

INSET program is expected to address the needs of instructors at all levels.

As Celce-Murcia (1991) assert, it is necessary to be familiar with the

teaching staff’s attitude towards the changing perceptions of accepted roles for

teachers, since novice and experienced teachers may have different views of

professional development and INSET program attendance. If the similar and

differing perceptions of novice and experienced instructors are determined and

catered to as a result of this study, it is believed that the effectiveness of the

INSET programs can be maximized. Therefore, another aspect of the study is

to identify any differing views of novice and experienced instructors, as it is

believed that the diverse needs of both groups should be taken into

consideration in an INSET design.

1.4. Significance of the Study

This study aims to investigate the needs and perceptions of the instructors

in the DFL at TOBB ETU for the establishment of an in-service training unit.

The researcher believes that identifying the needs of teachers is of utmost

importance, as the results will form the basis of the guidelines used to prepare

8

the objectives, scope and sequence, duration and outline of the INSET program

that will follow this study.

Instructors’ needs, expectations and perceptions should be catered to and

must be given priority in the design of the INSET programs. The researcher

decided to obtain information from the instructors recruited to TOBB ETU’s

DFL by means of this study. Since the researcher intended to demonstrate that

the instructors’ ideas are valued and appreciated in determining the baseline of

the INSET unit, getting input from the instructors was of utmost importance.

The researcher believes that the results of this study reflect the current

opinions of teachers in TOBB ETU’s DFL, and that they might also be

beneficial for other universities that do not yet have teacher training

departments. Likewise, universities that have their own teacher training units

might also benefit from the results and make alterations in their current

programs. Furthermore, senior students of foreign language departments might

benefit from reading the study, hence raising their awareness of issues related

to their prospective profession.

1.5. Research Questions

For the purpose of this study, three research questions have been

formulated:

1- What are the opinions of instructors and administrators at TOBB ETU

Department of Foreign Languages concerning in-service teacher training,

in terms of its scope, instructional methods and trainer profile?

2- What professional needs do instructors at TOBB ETU, DFL have that

should be addressed by an in-service training program?

3- Is there a difference between novice and experienced instructors in terms of

their needs and expectations from an in-service training program?

9

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1. Introduction

This chapter examines the literature related to this particular study. First of

all, terms such as “language teaching,” “teacher education,” “teacher

development,” “teacher training” and “in-service training” are discussed as

they constitute the focus of this study. Then, several teacher training models

are described in order to decide which model reflects the characteristics of the

INSET model to be proposed based on the findings of the study. Finally,

related research studies and their findings are summarized.

2.2. Language Teaching

Learning involves a change in behavior, it involves some form of practice

and it is relatively permanent but subject to forgetting. Teaching cannot be

defined apart from learning. Teaching is guiding and facilitating learning,

enabling the learner to learn, setting the conditions for learning (Brown, 2000,

p.7).

Grenfell (2003) maintains that learning about language learning theories

facilitates the development of language teaching. Understanding how

languages are learnt and discovering the intricacies of professional

development language training processes could lead to overall improvements

in education.

Language teaching necessitates incorporating the knowledge and skills

required to be competent in the language teaching profession. It is not always a

straightforward task to be a language teacher. Wright (2002) mentions that

becoming a language teacher involves making connections between the

10

linguistic and methodological components of language teaching. In order to

form the link between theory and practice, language teachers need further

education and training. Pennington (1989) states that education and training are

crucial for language teachers.

Due to the developments in language teaching approaches, the role of the

language teacher has shifted. In the late twentieth century, several new

language teaching approaches, like Communicative Language Learning,

replaced earlier approaches, such as audio-lingualism and the structural-

situational approach. Regardless of the approach adopted, new methods were

regarded as top-down, and the roles of teachers and learners were prescribed

beforehand. Learners were often viewed as passive recipients. Therefore, the

focus moved to the processes of learning and teaching rather than ascribing a

central role to teaching (Richards, 2001, p.5). This indicated that learners

would have a more central role in teaching-learning process and teachers

would no benefit the methods in accordance with the individual needs and

differences of their students.

According to Richards (2001), the many changes in the teacher’s role

shifted educators’ attention to questions of how teachers could develop and

explore their own teaching through reflection. In the 1990’s, teacher

development became a central educational issue. Establishing long-term goals,

facilitating the teacher’s understanding of teaching and of himself or herself as

a teacher, identifying the different styles of teaching, and determining learners’

perceptions of classroom activities are some of the essential components of

teacher development.

Roe (1992) states that language teaching is a lifetime career, and that

career development, like language teaching, is a life-long process. He also

mentions that continual professional development is the sum of internalizing

new ideas, sharing and exchanging ideas and experiences with colleagues, and

reflecting on one’s own experience (p.1). For a language teacher to develop

professionally, it is essential that s/he incorporates the aforementioned

processes into his or her teaching. Roe believes that language teachers should

continue learning and should seek opportunities to better themselves by

11

exchanging ideas with their colleagues in the context of professional

development programs.

As teacher education allows for continuous development of teachers and

teacher training enables teachers to improve their skills and knowledge, teacher

education, training and development are means for teachers to develop

professionally.

2.3. Teacher Education, Development and Training

2.3.1. Teacher Education

In the late twentieth century, new emphasis was placed on the role of

teachers. This new perspective requires teachers to be active, to explore and

reflect on their teaching and their students’ learning. They are expected to be

autonomous practitioners who combine knowledge and skills to make

decisions. This can be best achieved by teacher education, which can be

defined as the general term that includes both teacher development and teacher

training. The new role of teachers necessitated teacher education to be crucial

part of teachers’ development.

Doyle (1990) states that effective teacher education prepares candidates in

the prevailing norms and practices of classroom and schools (p. 5). For an

effective teacher education, Doff (1987) proposes that a new methodology

should be adopted in language teacher education. This new methodology

should bear the teachers’ own classroom experience in mind. Teachers should

be provided with a clear rationale of the changes in the methodology; new

teaching techniques should be demonstrated; and teachers should be guided to

put into practice the new methods they have learnt. Doff (1987) believes that

the application of these principles in teacher education will enhance teacher

quality.

The emphasis made on teaching and teacher education in the late

twentieth century dictated a new focus on effective teacher education as the

most important way of enhancing teacher quality. As Freeman (1989)

12

mentions, language teacher education serves as the link between what is known

in the field and what is done in the classroom (p.30). For him, the purpose of

language teacher education is to create a change in the teacher’s decision

making process, which centers on his/her knowledge, skills, attitude, and

awareness of him or herself, the students, and the innovations in the field. He

views defining the content of language teacher education, understanding the

processes of effective language teaching, and conveying how to teach language

teaching as essential. He adds that language teacher education deals mainly

with the process of language teaching; yet, other subject areas help to define

and articulate the knowledge and skill base of language teaching.

Besides language teacher education, Freeman (1989) focuses on language

teaching itself. It is defined as a decision-making process based on four

constituents: knowledge, skills, attitude, and awareness. Knowledge includes

what is being taught, namely the subject matter; to whom it is being taught –

the students, their backgrounds, learning styles, language levels- and where it is

being taught- the socio-cultural, institutional and situational contexts. Skills

define what qualities the teacher has to possess: the ability to present materials,

give clear instructions and correct errors in various ways. Knowledge and skills

form the knowledge base of teaching. Attitude is the stance one adopts toward

oneself, the activity of teaching and the learners as one engages in the teaching

and learning process. Awareness, on the other hand, is the capacity to

recognize and monitor the attention one is giving or has given to teaching.

Awareness as a constituent integrates and unifies the previous three

constituents. If teachers are aware of their knowledge and skills and they have

positive attitudes towards their students and developing themselves, they are

more likely to grow and change (Larsen-Freeman, 1983).

In addition to the four constituents suggested by Freeman, Thomas (1987)

argues that teachers should also possess language competence to a greater

degree than that expected of their learners. They should also be competent in

the teaching of language, ie. possess pedagogical competence.

The design of teacher education programs should take care to incorporate

the aforementioned constituents. Doyle (1990) believes that teacher education

13

programs should be constructed in a systematic way. This means that the

program should hold to some basic beliefs about methods, delivery of

information, and interaction between the participants. These beliefs should

serve as an organizing theme for the selection of the program’s content.

Freeman (1998) points out that the teacher is no longer regarded as the

centre of all teaching and learning activities; nor are learners seen as passive

recipients or empty vessels to be filled with the language items being

presented. Therefore, it is no longer possible for teachers to be trained to

operate within an explicit, fixed framework of principles or to follow the

principles specified for a particular method, as was the case earlier, when it

was believed that learners learn what teachers teach and that teaching, if done

according to the rules, necessarily causes learning to occur. The starting point

of education for teaching could be the teaching act itself, moving in a linear

fashion from ‘theory’ to ‘practice’(p. 401).

Freeman (1998) proposes a descriptive model for teaching which

incorporates the four constituents of language teaching:

14

The Constituents

AWARENESS triggers and monitors attention to:

ATTITUDE

a stance toward self, activity, and others that links intrapersonal dynamics with external performance and behaviors

SKILLS KNOWLEDGE

the how of teaching : the what of teaching :

method subject matter technique knowledge of students activity socio-cultural /

materials / tools institutional context View of Language Teacher Education

Figure 1. Descriptive Model of Teaching (Freeman, 1998).

As the model indicates, language teacher education tries to link

intrapersonal dynamics with external performance and behaviors of teachers.

Additionally, teachers should be trained to use effective methods, techniques,

activities and materials. These skills should be combined with the training on

the subject matter, namely knowledge improvement.

Richards and Crookes (1988) also argue that it is a misconception to

believe that language teacher education is generally concerned with the

transmission of knowledge, more specifically, knowledge of applied linguistics

and language acquisition, and of skills in methodology and related areas. They

believe, namely, that transmission of knowledge does not always lead to

effective practice.

15

2.3.2 Teacher Development

The changes in teachers’ role due to the developments in educational

sciences, rising expectations of parents and students, and growing awareness of

the dynamic structure of teaching and learning, demand that teachers renew

themselves (Duzan, 2006). In order to cope with all these dynamic processes,

teachers need to develop professionally.

One component of professional development is teacher development. This

term needs to be clearly defined to facilitate in-depth understanding. Ur (1996)

defines it as the means by which teachers learn, by reflecting on their own

current classroom experiences. Eraut (1977) defines teacher development as

the natural process of professional growth in which a teacher gradually

acquires confidence, gains new perspectives, increases in knowledge, discovers

new methods, and takes on new roles.

Wallace (1991) proposes that there is a distinction between teacher

education and teacher development. Teacher education is managed by others,

and is power-coercive and rational-empirical in focus; whereas teacher

development is managed by oneself, and hence, the normative re-educative-

change strategy is encouraged (p. 3). In the same vein, Ur (1996) believes that

teacher development takes place when teachers, working as individuals or in a

group, consciously take advantage of resources to increase their own

professional learning. Teacher development programs provide the teachers

with opportunities to adapt to their new roles.

Richards and Nunan (1990) focus on the changes that take place in

teachers; and they point out that intellectual, experiential and attitudinal

changes in teacher behavior may occur as a result of teacher development

through professional in-service programs. Teachers improve their ability to

use, adapt and apply their crafts via teacher development programs. Like

Richards and Nunan, Sergiovanni (1983) focuses on the change in teachers

through professional teacher development. He suggests that teachers change as

a result of development programs by polishing their existing teaching skills or

keeping up with the latest teaching developments.

16

Ur (1996) draws attention to both novice and experienced teachers’ need

for constant teacher development. She states that the first year of teaching can

be very stressful, and that difficult first years may even cause some new

teachers to abandon the profession. Conversely, some teachers face

professional survival challenges in the later years of their career, due to a

phenomenon known as ‘burn-out.’ This is a feeling of boredom, or loss of

momentum. Burn-out usually comes on gradually and may sometimes be

conquered only by retirement or a change of profession. Constant teacher

development and progress can forestall or solve problems caused by first-year

stress and later burn-out (p.318).

Tetenbaum and Mulkeen (1986) propose a continuing, integrated model of

teacher development. Such a teacher development program should be field-

based, problem-centered, technology-driven, based on experimental sharing,

competency-based, expertly-staffed, and open-ended, namely never ending.

They claim that a continuing, integrated teacher development program will

bring success to the teacher and the institution.

In brief, teacher education and teacher development have distinct

characteristics, in the sense that teacher education, which is neither managed

by teachers nor problem-driven, does not trigger intrinsic motivation of

teachers. Teacher development, on the other hand, facilitates teachers’

adaptation process by providing them with opportunities for hands-on

experience.

In addition to teacher education and teacher development, teacher training

is essential for the professional development of teachers.

2.3.3. Teacher Training

Teacher training (hereafter TT) is another component of language teacher

education. Şahin (2006) defines training as a form of gaining knowledge in

order to perform better at a particular job.

Kocaman (1992) states that there are many variables involved in teaching,

but that TT is an important aspect of ELT education and teacher education and

17

thus, involves a well-planned, continuous process. Effective TT implies having

well-qualified teacher educators and likewise, well organized and implemented

programs (p.19). Kocaman argues that TT programs should not simply focus

on classroom methodology and techniques and to try to improve only these. In

order to improve the quality of TT, he suggests a broader perspective, as he

believes that language education is not a static undertaking, but rather, a

dynamic process which takes into account the future needs of the society as

well as the present day requirements and considers them in light of societal

tradition.

Lamie (2005) specifies the broader perspective of TT referred to by

Kocaman and proposes a trainee-centered methodology which gives way to

self-examination rather than transmission of knowledge. This is significant

because language teaching has started putting emphasis on learner-centered

and problem solving methodologies. In terms of the content of TT programs,

Wallace (1991) proposes that trainees should be exposed to a variety of

learning contexts in which they can explore and develop their learning

strategies. He states that the aim of the teacher training program is to encourage

teachers to become ‘reflective practitioners.’ He believes in the necessity of

presenting different teaching and learning modes to trainees, for several

reasons. First, trainees’ learning styles, and this diversity should be reflected in

the palette of teaching strategies. Also, trainees ought to be encouraged to

experiment with a variety of learning strategies. A second reason is that

different teaching modes add variety and makes teaching more interesting for

both tutors and trainees. In addition, the tutor gets to know her trainees better

and is better able to evaluate them fairly (p.29).

It is also believed that a training program is more likely to succeed if

there is a sizeable practical component as well as theory. Practice needs to be

regular and frequent enough to permit reappraisal, readjustment and repetition

over a substantial period of time. If the trainees incorporate the new techniques

in their subsequent practice, they may then reevaluate them in light of that

practice.

18

Besides discussing the methodology and content of teacher training

programs, scholars have commented on the characteristics of well-designed

teacher training programs. Evans (1988) points out that in planning a teacher

training program, the needs of the trainees should be analyzed as the initial

step. Once the needs are determined, they should be categorized in terms of

skills, knowledge and attitudes. Then, realistic aims should be set, bearing in

mind the participants’ knowledge and experience, previous training, the

workload, practical and financial constraints. As the next step, the trainers are

selected; and finally, the decisions about course content are made.

Apart from the aforementioned characteristics of TT, Bamber (1987)

emphasizes the role of an effective teacher trainer in the success of a teacher

training program. He states that a teacher trainer must display language

competence and flexibility of approach. In addition, he or she must be

sympathetic to the non-specialist’s problems and establish a mutual trust

between himself or herself and the non-specialist. Above all, she must be aware

of what is feasible (p.120). In order to establish an environment in which

trainees and trainers share experiences on the basis of trust, it is essential that

the teacher trainer bear these qualities.

Doff (1987) believes that TT should be designed in a way that exerts long

term influence on the whole system of English education. Effective TT

produces effective teaching and influences immediate classroom behavior of

individual teachers. Doff visualizes his figure as follows:

19

Trainer

INPUT

Teachers Teachers

Classroom Behavior

Figure 2. The process of a Teacher Training Course (Doff, 1987).

In the figure above, what begins as low-level input from an outside

system becomes absorbed into the system itself and may emerge as an

indigenized product, with greatly enhanced influence on educational attitudes

and behavior (p.71). The interaction between the trainers and the trainees

contributes to the change in classroom behavior.

Kennedy (2005) criticizes teacher training programs in which knowledge

is generally ‘delivered’ to the teacher by an ‘expert,’ with the agenda

determined by the deliverer while the participant remains in a passive role.

While the training can take place within the institution in which the participant

works, it is most commonly delivered off-site and is often subject to criticism

about its lack of connection to the actual classroom context in which

participants work. According to Kennedy, placing the participants in a more

active role and ensuring in-house practices or ensuring that the trainees connect

the input they received from outside to their actual teaching practices will

contribute to the success of TT programs.

Although the terms “teacher training” and “teacher development” are used

interchangeably in some contexts, some authors emphasize the difference

among them, as they believe that these two phenomena reflect different

Training Course

20

approaches to how teachers should be educated. For example, Wallace (1991)

mentions the distinction between teacher training or education and teacher

development. Training or education is something that can be presented or

managed by the others; whereas development is something that can be done

only by and for oneself (p. 3). Freeman (1989) considers training a strategy for

direct intervention by the collaborator, to work on pre-determined goals and

strategies in a given period of time. Effectiveness in the classroom is based on

the improvement of specific aspects of skills and knowledge. Both Freeman

and Wallace focus on the time constraints in teacher training and the external

factors in the teaching process. Wallace’s ‘other’ and ‘collaborator’ refer to

trainers in teacher training activities who are the decision makers in the design

and sequence of the program. Freeman (1989) believes, however, that trainees

are more independent in teacher development, self reflection and evaluation of

teachers that is guided by the trainers. In addition, Freeman’s concept of

development deals with more complex and integrated aspects of teaching,

rather than merely focusing on specific skills, as in teacher training. The effects

of teacher development can be seen over a longer period time. It is understood

that training and development are two basic educating strategies that share the

same purpose: achieving change in what the teacher does and why he or she

does it. They differ in the means that they adopt to achieve that purpose.

Woodward (1991) emphasizes the bi-polar scale for the purpose of

illustrating the difference and the continuum between teacher training and

teacher development. She maintains that there should be some kind of a

balance between the two ends of the continuum in designing a teacher training

course. Such in-service programs compose some sections from both

parameters. The below scale displays how teacher training and teacher

development differ from each other:

21

Table 1. The Teacher Training and Teacher Development Associations Scale (Woodward, 1991)

TEACHER TRAINING TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

Compulsory Voluntary

Competency-based Holistic

Short Term Long Term

One-off Ongoing

Temporary Continual

External Agenda InternalAgenda

Skill/Technique and Awareness-based, angled towards skills

Knowledge Based- personal growth& the development of attitudes/insights

Compulsory for entry to the profession

Non-compulsory

Top-down Bottom-up

Product/certificate weighted Process weighted

Means you can get a job Means you can stay interested in your job

Done with experts Done with peers

2.4. Models of Teacher Training

As of yet, several teacher training models have been applied; and some

have evolved over the course of time. Wallace (1991), Wolter (2000), Palmer

(1993) and Ur (1996) propose the following models for teacher training

programs.

2.4.1. Wallace’s Training Models

Wallace (1991, p. 5-14) categorizes three training models as follows:

a) In the ‘Craft model’, the young trainee learns by imitating the expert’s

techniques and by following the instructions and advice. Expertise in the craft

is passed from generation to generation. It is assumed that the expert or master

22

is responsible for passing his or her craft and knowledge to new generations.

The following figure explains how trainees become professionals. In this

model, as mentioned in the below figure, apprentices learn from a practitioner;

they follow his/her instructions and demonstration and they gain professional

competence after they begin to practice.

�

Figure 3. The Craft Model of Professional Education (Wallace, 1991, p.6).

Stones and Morris (cited in Wallace, 1991) argue that this technique is

basically conservative and is contingent on an essentially static society.

However, today schools exist in a dynamic society, geared to change. The

limitations of this model produced a demand for more dynamic and

developmental models.

b) The ‘Applied Science Model’ (Wallace, 1991, p. 8) was proposed by

Schön. According to it, the findings of scientific knowledge and

experimentation are conveyed to the trainee by those who are experts in the

field. It is up to the trainees to put conclusions from the scientific findings into

practice. Thus, this method also assumes that professional development can be

achieved through transmission of knowledge (Özen,1997). An applied science

model would be to teach the subjects in their own right and expect the trainees

to somehow apply the findings in these areas of knowledge to their teaching

situation. This model, like the ‘craft model,’is traditional. There is no two-way

interaction in this model; the knowledge is transmitted by the experts, and the

trainees receive no guidance as to how to implement this knowledge in their

classes. Furthermore, trainers might not always be autonomous enough to

internalize and put into practice what knowledge they have acquired from their

Practice

Study with the ‘master’ practitioner : demonstration / instruction

Professional Competence

23

experts. The figure below displays the lack of interaction in the nature of this

model:

Application of scientific knowledge /

refinement by experimentation

Results conveyed to trainees

Periodic up-dating

( in service )

Practice

Figure 4. Applied Science Model (Wallace, 1991, p.9)

c) In the ‘Reflective model’ (Wallace, 1991) a compromise exists between

the received knowledge, which refers to the theoretical concepts, facts, data,

etc., and the experiential knowledge, which is ‘knowing-in-action’ by practice

Scientific Knowledge

Professional Competence

24

of profession, and which relates to the professional’s ongoing experience

(p.12). Ways should be found to make the relationship reciprocal, not one-way,

so that the trainee can reflect on the ‘received knowledge’ in light of the

classroom experience, and so that the classroom experience can feed back into

the ‘received knowledge.’ The trainees are expected to interact and reflect on

what they have learnt; and this indicates that there is two-way interaction

between the trainers and trainees.

Wallace (1991) believes that these two knowledge types are an

indispensable feature of professional development. The reflective model

emphasizes the role of the trainees and what they bring to the

training/development process. The following figure illustrates this model:

Received Knowledge

Figure 5. Reflective Model (Wallace, 1991, p.15)

2.4.2. Participant Centered Approach

Wolter (2000, p.315) proposes that participant-centered approach

encourages a higher degree of fit to real-life situations, as the program

progresses from theoretical toward practical concerns. This approach invites

the participants to share their expertise with the course instructors, which

Professional Competence

Reflection

Practice

Previous Experiential Knowledge

25

encourages changes in the perspectives of the participants. The rationale

behind this approach is that since only the participants have a sufficiently rich

knowledge of their own learning/teaching situation, they are in the best

position to determine how the innovation can function within it. The end result

is a program that shifts from being a more or less one-way transfer of

information to encouraging and fostering a two-way exchange of ideas. The

participant-centered approach shares some characteristics with student-centered

teaching. In student centered teaching, planning, teaching and assessing

revolve around the needs and abilities of the students. Topics which are

relevant to the students’ lives, needs and interests are chosen. Students are

actively involved in connecting the knowledge to their own settings, and they

are given ample opportunity to experiment and discover on their own

(McCombs and Whistler, 1997). If trainees are provided with similar

opportunities in their own training programs, they will easily put the principles

of student-centered learning into practice.

2.4.3. Palmer’s approaches

Palmer (1993) suggests three approaches in terms of training input styles

in an in-service training program. The transmission approach is a one-way-

model: the-trainer-as-knower approach. The trainers provide the input; the

participants have no investment in the idea; and therefore, may have little

commitment to using it. In the problem-solving approach, trainers and

participants cooperate on both the design and the development of a given

program. The participants contribute by relaying personal teaching problems

and recounting personal experience; the trainers contribute by suggesting

possible solutions based on their experience and knowledge. This type of

negotiated program is more context-based and teacher-specific. Finally, the

exploratory approach views (Breen et al., 1989) training as classroom

decision-making and investigation. The trainers are simply facilitators to

teachers exploring their own classroom and resources, finding their own

solutions to individual problems with the help of others in the group, ie. either

26

participants or trainees. The trainer functions more as a colleague whose input

is no more and no less valid than that of the other participants.

2.4.4. Ur’s Model

Ur (1996) suggests a teacher training model in which the trainer is a

facilitator who has a very important function of guiding the trainees, but not

prescribing what they should be doing. The trainers should encourage the

trainees to produce new ideas on their own, provide relevant input to the

trainees, and help them acquire the habit of processing input from various

sources by using their own experience, so that they will eventually assume

ownership of the resulting knowledge. In terms of the content, Ur proposes the

incorporation of a variety of components to enrich the repertoire of the

trainees. Ur’s model displays similar characteristics with the exploratory model

of Palmer (1993). In both models, the trainees are central to the program; they

are expected to be autonomous, and the trainers act as mere facilitators.

2.5. In-service Training

Teaching has gained great importance in the last two decades; and thus, it

is of great importance for teachers, educators and educational authorities to

find effective ways of teaching. That is one of the main underlying reasons for

in-service training programs. The rationale behind any teacher training

program is to enhance the quality of teaching.

Dave (as cited in Goad, 1984) states that when education is seen as a

lifelong process, and, in this context, when the school is treated as only one

among many structures by means of which learning is acquired, the role and

functions of the school and the teacher need to be reviewed and reformulated.

The institutions of teacher education must inculcate new skills, attitudes and

insights in teachers through their in-service education programs.

Bezzina (2007) argues that professional development should take place at

school in order to cater to the learning needs of teachers and their students. She

27

suggests organizing in-house and site-based managed programs to foster the

interaction among teacher educators and teachers by enabling them to discuss

teaching and learning outcomes for students and teachers. In-service training

programs are good opportunities for the institutions to provide this interaction

among teachers.

Day (1999) adds to Bezzina’s definition of INSET, describing it as a

planned event, series of events or extended program of accredited or non-

accredited learning, in order to distinguish it from less formal in-school

development work and extended partnerships and interschool networks. In-

service training programs are a means for some teachers to keep track on with

the recent developments in the field, and for some, an opportunity to brush up

on their previous knowledge and add to it. In both cases, participation in in-

service training programs is crucial. As instructional technology advances, the

need to change and improve becomes increasingly vital for professionals.

According to Duzan (2006), INSET is a program which provides teachers

with a variety of activities and practice sessions for the purpose of helping

them develop professionally by broadening their knowledge, improving their

teaching skills and increasing their self-awareness and reflective abilities.

Teachers participate in INSET programs after their initial education to enhance

their effectiveness in teaching. It is clear from the definitions that there is a

close link between INSET programs and professional development. INSET

programs are also an essential means to becoming effective teachers. For

experienced teachers, they are a way to overcome, or at least minimize, teacher

burn-out. According to England (1998, p.18), the motivation of some teachers

to take part in in-service training programs, is related to their personal

satisfaction with the occupation. She is of the idea that most teachers

intrinsically want and need to participate in ongoing development to better

understand the complexity of their task and to minimize burn-out.

The characteristics of INSET programs have attracted the attention of

some authors. For Waxman et al. (2006), professional development for English

language teachers must be comprehensive and systematic at all levels;

fragmented, short-term in-service training is ineffective. Professional

28

development should include demonstration of theories of language, sustained

coaching, and evaluation programs measuring teacher implementation and

impact. A holistic approach emphasizing teacher cooperation and ongoing

analysis of what makes school and teachers successful is more useful in

professional development than emphasizing specific teaching skills (p.189).

Koç (1992) states that in-service training is creating a caring and sharing

atmosphere, in which teachers share and exchange their experience in teaching.

They discuss their problems and find practical solutions to their problems with

academic help from educators. This help is aimed at improving their skills in

applying recent methodology, approaches, and classroom management

strategies, and at gaining experience in developing and applying an effective

curriculum. In addition, they evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching, as

well as their students’ performance in courses they teach; and according to the

feedback they get, they make necessary changes in their teaching style and

suggest new ways of reorganizing the contents of the book they are teaching

from, in accordance with the new developments in their specific fields of study

and in line with advances in technology (p.48). In the same vein, Ekmekçi

(1992) emphasizes the importance of the promotion of teacher independence in

INSET programs. Responsibility is given to teachers by guiding them to

evaluate their own work and by not prescribing the procedures to be followed.

Ekmekçi (1992) mentions two divergent approaches of teaching. One approach

of teaching is to assign the learners the observant role so that they would only

watch the process realized by the teacher. In the other approach, the teacher

involves the learners in the process and provides them opportunities to make

generalizations, analyses or to use their intuition in deciding what action to

take to actualize the process. If the second approach is followed in a teacher

training program, the supervisor or trainer guides the teachers to develop their

own way of teaching, rather than prescribing the process of teaching for them,

which often leads to the failure of training programs.

In terms of the content of INSET programs, Veenman (as cited in Capel,

1998) identifies eight problems encountered most often by new teachers:

classroom discipline, motivating pupils, dealing with individual differences,

29

assessing pupils’ work, relationships with parents, organization of class work,

insufficient and/or inadequate teaching materials and supplies, and dealing with

the problems of individual pupils. He proposes that these issues should be

considered in the design of the programs. Doff (1987) emphasizes the role of

extrinsic factors in the design of INSET programs. He states that large and

overcrowded classes, lack of equipment and resources, lack of preparation

time, a rigid syllabus etc. affect the design of a training program (p. 68).

Furthermore, the attitude of teachers to teaching and learning will not only

influence the content and design of the training material but also the overall

effectiveness of the training program.

Bezzina (2007) lists a number of challenges novice teachers encounter at

the beginning of their career. To start with, taking on full-time teaching in a

school is exhausting for them. They are overwhelmed by non-teaching duties

like invigilation, marking, and paper work. In addition, they do not possess

enough knowledge about the curriculum and they have problems about what

and how much to cover. They aren’t flexible enough to adapt the lessons to the

realities of their classrooms. Addressing different students at the same time is

another challenge for them. Classroom management issues, like large number

of students as well as disruptive and unmotivated students, are another concern

for them. They need support from experienced teachers and the administration

in terms of the teaching responsibilities and school policies; but, they do not

always have the courage to ask for help. According to a study conducted by

Bleach (1999), novice teachers need to spend time with experienced teachers or

mentors and establish relationships with them. An INSET program that

includes both novice and experienced teachers should cater to these issues

raised by Bezzina and Bleach.

It is apparent that many researchers share the idea that INSET programs

should be interactive, cover a variety of content and be based on the individual

needs of the trainees as well as their students. These commonalities exist

because normally there is an underlying desire for changes in teaching practice

and behavior behind every in-service teacher education program. These

changes may be either obligatory by the imposition of the school, local

30

authority and government, or optional due to personal reasons, like the need for

renewal or brushing up on existing knowledge (Palmer, 1993, p. 166).

Participants should have intrinsic motivation towards INSET; otherwise, the

outcome of the programs will not be effective or fruitful as projected. Hayes

(2000), for example, emphasizes the motivational factor towards change,

arguing that teachers’ own personal disposition towards change may be a key

variable. The widest possible perspective should be taken on all INSET

activities. The processes of INSET can only be fully understood if teachers’

social and educational context is considered (p. 137).

In another study, Lamie (2005) determines the criteria for effective in-

service training programs. It is essential that an INSET program consider the

elements below to be effective. Lamie categorizes the criteria under five main

points: Setting the aim, planning and implementation, determining the length

and mode of delivery, setting the methodology and follow-up work activities

constitute the procedure of the INSET program. Awareness of the needs of the

participants and catering to their individual differences are important as well.

Trainer expertise, focus on individuals and provision of feedback are some

other essential points in INSET design. Lamie summarizes the criteria as

follows:

31

Table 2. Criteria for effective INSET (Lamie, 2005, p. 96)

Procedure Participant Activity Content General

Part of overall Continual Share Good Focus on scheme and clearly involvement information practice individual articulated rationale Planning Individual Demonstrations Interactive Appropriate Implementation difference Form Evaluation Length &mode Needs Trials Relevant Government of delivery awareness support Methodology Motivation Feedback Coherent Credible trainers Follow-up Researcher Relevant Supporting Cultural work materials awareness

According to Kaufman (1995), in-service training experiences might be

selected on the basis of maintaining and reinforcing teacher abilities. If teacher

competence is maintained, performance will not decline below expected levels.

The best way to identify the competence of the teacher-learners is to perform a

needs assessment. Kaufman’s needs assessment tool reveals the gaps between

actual and desired results, prioritizes these gaps, and selects the most important

needs to be addressed.

Conducting a needs analysis is a crucial step in determining the content,

methodology, duration etc. of the INSET programs. Siedow, Memory and

Bristow (1985) suggest a model for INSET that contains the following steps :

1) assess staff needs 2) determine in-service objectives 3) plan content 4)

choose methods of presentation 5) evaluate the effectiveness 6) provide follow-

up assistance and reinforcement.

Harland and Kinder (1994) suggest that INSET has a varied influence on

individual teachers and that participants follow a unique outcome route. They

emphasize the importance and impact of attitudes, arguing for the identification

of needs and the design of in-service training experiences based on the

32

individual’s learning perspective, rather than on global prescriptions of

systematic needs and forms of provision.

Waxman et al. (2006) point out that professional development should

begin with the needs of the teachers, not administrators. Staff developers

should carefully assess what teachers and their students need and include

classroom-based training sessions, with a focus on implementation of

knowledge gained through professional development (p.193).

2.6. Why INSET Programs Fail

Iredale (1996) explains that it is generally assumed teachers who have

attended a teacher training course and who are, therefore, “qualified,” are more

effective in classroom than those who have not. However, this may not always

be the case. There is increasing recognition that initial teacher training

methods in many places are so ineffective that they add little value to the

ability of a future teacher to operate effectively in classroom. Thus, scepticism

about the relevance and effectiveness of initial teacher training has led to

general agreement that in-service teacher education is the most effective way

of ensuring that teachers adapt to changing demands (p.15).

Contrary to expectations, INSET programs do not always prove to be

successful in achieving their aims, due to several reasons. In general,

researchers attribute INSET programs’ lack of effectiveness to: lack of

feedback, discrepancy between theory and practice, short duration, insufficient

opportunities for practice teaching, distance from classroom realities, and lack

of a language improvement component. Cullen (1994, p. 163), one researcher

who has reservations about the efficiency of INSET programs, asserts that few

teacher training courses feature either the time or the resources to provide a

sufficiently intensive language improvement course which stands a reasonable

chance of achieving its purpose, that is, to improve the trainees’

communicative command of the language, rather than their theoretical

knowledge about it. In most countries where English is not the medium of

instruction, the main concern of teachers, in particular primary and secondary

33

school teachers, is the need to improve their command of the language so that

they can use it more fluently and more confidently in the classroom. Thus in-

service programs should include this component either directly or indirectly.

Wolter (2000) criticizes INSET programs’ tendency to not provide

enough feedback to the participants. He argues that INSET courses have not

been satisfactory because they have failed to incorporate participant feedback

and to offer activities in a continuum; they are generally one-off basis.

Apart from the lack of a language improvement component and sufficient

feedback, Palmer (1993) and Breen et. al. (1989) criticize INSET programs for

being distant from classroom realities and for not providing a chance for

participants to internalize the input they have received. Palmer (1993) states

that there is usually a large gap between what happens in an in-service course

and what happens subsequently in the classroom. Most trainers expect that the

new ideas they present will be adapted by the teacher before they are used in a

particular context. However, in-service programs are, by their very nature,

usually intensive, allowing trainers little opportunity to help teachers explore

the implications the innovation will have on their previously-established

classroom routines and behaviors, and thus, adapt it to their particular

circumstances. As a result, the full benefit of in-service program may not be

attained (p.166). In the same vein, Breen et al. (1989) point out that there is a

significant gap between what teachers think and do together in workshops, and

what an individual teacher thinks and does in the classroom (p.126).

Miller (1998) believes that the effectiveness of INSET programs cannot

be maximized due to the fact that such programs are generally short and one-

shot. Other issues raised by Miller are that participants aren’t autonomous in

selecting the topics of the in-service sessions, and furthermore, that knowledge

is transmitted by outside experts, which could possibly render the sessions

irrelevant for the trainees. Kumar (1992) focuses on another aspect of the issue,

arguing that in-service courses provide teachers with insufficient opportunities

to practice teach, as they are too brief, abrupt and superficial. He also claims

that the topics are not specific enough to help trainees cope with their

individual teaching situations.

34

Oser et al. (2006) draw attention to an important issue related to INSET

content. They state that for several decades, teacher training programs have

been designed basically around knowledge transfer or/and transfer of

traditional how-to-do concepts about what works in the classroom. Such a

design, they argue, lacks a fundamental core idea, namely that each teaching

situation itself demands a certain competence profile of the acting profession

that calls for specific professional performances and a synthesis of practical

know-how and theoretical knowledge. Because these performances require

spontaneous synthesis of theory and practice (p.1), the link between theory and

practice must be part of the content of in-service sessions.

In addition to the aforementioned criticisms, Wolter (2000) believes that

INSET courses will be more successful in affecting changes in accordance with

the principles of innovation if the conditions necessary for change to occur are

examined in broader context. Most INSET courses begin with rhetorically-

structured arguments in favor of the innovation, before gradually progressing

to more hands-on activities which encourage the participants to put what they

have learnt into practice. However, theoretically sound and well-presented

innovations can still fail to produce the desired effect. This is due to that fact

that when dealing with practical issues, it becomes increasingly difficult to

shift away from innovation-inherent aspects toward situation-specific aspects

(p. 313). According to Wolter, the static structure of INSET programs becomes

an obstacle to their effectiveness. Innovative content should be taught in light

of the link between theory and practice.

2.7. INSET Programs abroad

A three year in-service program consisting of two-week courses with

preparation and follow-up meetings in Norway was run at the Norwegian

Study Centre at the University of York. The courses were intended to introduce

teachers to ways of applying methodology to classroom teaching. In the first

year, input sessions included aspects of teaching, such as communication skills

and the use of authentic materials. This was accompanied by some material

35

production. In the second year, the model was modified to allow teachers a

greater opportunity to familiarize themselves with new ideas and adapt them to

their teaching contexts and styles. Pre-course meetings were held to acquaint

participants with each other and prepare them for the course itself via

awareness-raising and problem-solving activities. Finally, the time allowed for

provision of input was decreased, and the workshop session was handed over

to the teachers so that they might better explore where and how ideas might be

applied to their own course books and programs. Hence, the INSET program

was a combination of transmission, problem-solving and exploratory

approaches (Palmer, 1993, p.168-171). The model was found to be

advantageous in promoting innovation in the classroom by means of

experiencing, reflecting, adapting and evaluating.

In the United States, a reflective model for the professional development

of teachers has been applied. The American professional development school

model offers possibilities for creating new ways of knowing

(Darling&Hammond, 1995). In this model, the responsibilities of practicing

teachers extend into areas previously considered the domain of school

administrators or university faculty. Those directly involved in the

school/university ventures report benefits for experienced teachers, such as

increased knowledge, greater efficacy, enhanced collegial interaction, and

leadership skills (Sandholtz, 2001). Teachers act as reflective practitioners,

constantly evaluating their values and practices in this model (Schön, 1987).

Additionally, another study conducted among 199 American teachers in four

secondary schools explored the range of professional development

opportunities for teachers. It was found that like students, teachers appreciate

opportunities to explore, reflect, collaborate with peers, work on authentic

learning tasks and engage in hands-on active learning. Thus, professional

development should aim to meet the needs of each individual teacher and move

beyond the traditional model (Sandholtz, 2001).

An American INSET course which began in the early 1980s was

conducted in Hungary during the teachers’ summer holidays. The program

featured three goals: (1) the academic specialists’ goal of enhancing the

36

participants’ professional skills; (2) the US government’s goal of promoting

American culture; and (3) the participants’ own need to develop their

individual English language proficiency. From the TEFL perspective, the goal

was to present current findings on language acquisition and pedagogy. For the

teacher-participants, who came from a wide spectrum of teaching situations

and social classes, the American course has been one of the few opportunities

to use otherwise inaccessible materials. The INSET course designing

experience also helped the designers realize how important pre-planning and

ongoing information gathering can be in providing a program with a high

degree of relevance to the local situation (Dubin & Wong, 1990).

The Sri Lankan Primary English Language Project (PELP) aims to

improve the quality of instruction of basic English language skills in primary

schools in Sri Lanka by establishing a training cadre with the sustainable

capacity to implement improved local-based training for English teachers. The

cadre consists of the project manager and two project coordinators trained by

him, who then work with him to train the 120 staff of 30 Regional English

Support Centres (RESC’s). RESC staff conduct in-service courses for teachers

in their localities, which should lead to improvement in classroom teaching and

to improved learning for children. The results of the training revealed that

children taught by RESC-trained teachers perform better than children taught

by non-RESC trained teachers. Moreoever, the teaching style of teachers who

have participated in RESC courses is more learner-centered and activity-based

than that of teachers who have not had such training.

2.8. Related Research Studies on Teacher Training in Turkey

As a result of the growing awareness and need for professional expertise,

several Turkish universities such as Middle East Technical University, Başkent

University, Bilkent University, Hacettepe University, Çukurova University,

and Gaziantep University, have set up their own in-service training units.

Several needs analysis studies and program evaluations have been conducted

37

by Duzan (2006), Alan (2003), Şentuna (2002), Kervancıoğlu (2001), Karaca

(1999), Özen (1997), Korukçu (1996).

Duzan (2006) conducted a study on the evaluation of the effectiveness of

the in-service training program implemented for the newly hired teachers in the

School of Foreign Languages at Middle East Technical University. Data were

collected through questionnaires and interviews and analyzed both

quantitatively and qualitatively. The results of the study revealed that the

trainees especially need to improve their practical teaching skills which

are immediately necessary in the new setting. Their degree of satisfaction was

also found to be high. The results about the experienced teachers showed that they

did not feel the need to enroll in an in-service training program. The findings

about the teacher trainers revealed that they are generally happy with the program

although they listed some suggestions for improvement.

Alan (2003) conducted another study related to INSET programs,

exploring in particular novice teachers’ perceptions of in-service training. The

study was not a needs analysis, but rather an evaluation of an existing INSET

program conducted at Anadolu University. He employed two data collection

instruments: a survey and semi-structured interviews. He examined to what

extent novice teachers perceived the INSET courses as valuable and in what

areas of teaching they perceived INSET courses as valuable for their teaching

practices. The study revealed that the participants’ perceptions of INSET

workshops were generally positive. Participants found the workshop sessions

on classroom management, teaching grammar and testing speaking particularly

beneficial. Furthermore, they expressed the need to gain contextual knowledge

about classroom management, textbook use and testing.

Another study was conducted by Şentuna (2002) in order to investigate the

INSET content interests of EFL instructors working in the preparatory schools of

Turkish state universities, and to determine whether or not EFL instructors feel

the need for different content in in-service training programs at different points in

their careers. The participants of this study were 530 instructors from a variety of

Turkish universities: Akdeniz University, Anadolu University, Ankara University,

Boğaziçi University, Celal Bayar University, Çukurova University, Dokuz Eylül

38

University, Ege University, Erciyes University, Hacettepe University, Karadeniz

Technical University, Marmara University, Mersin University, Middle East

Technical University, Muğla University, Osmangazi University, Sakarya

University, Yıldız Teknik University. Data were collected through questionnaires;

and quantitative data analysis techniques were used to analyze the data. The

results of the data analysis revealed that the instructors are at least fairly interested

in attending INSET courses on all the items asked in the questionnaire. They were

found to be most interested in having further training on motivating students and

raising students’ language awareness. The instructors also expressed interest in

having further training on new teaching methods, using new materials, raising

their students’ awareness of their goals and objectives, teaching vocabulary,

speaking and reading, promoting interaction, ways of determining students’ needs,

and ways of evaluating the effectiveness of teaching. The results also indicated

that the novice teachers are more interested than the experienced teachers in most

of the topic areas related to INSET content.

Kervancıoğlu (2001) conducted a needs analysis study to investigate the

in-service training needs assessment of the instructors of English in the

Department of Foreign Languages at Gaziantep University. The subjects of the

study were the instructors and the students of the institution. The data

collection tool was a questionnaire administered to both instructors and

students. General opinions of the instructors regarding in-service training

programs were explored. The second aim of the study was to identify any

significant differences in the perceptions of the instructors of English and the

preparatory school students in terms of the subject matters that teachers should

improve. 67% of the instructors marked either ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’

indicating that they consider it necessary to implement in-service training

programs in their departments and that they expect an improvement in their

teaching performance following such programs. The study revealed statistically

significant differences between the two groups’ perceptions of in-service

training’s purpose and outcome. Teaching reading and speaking skills, using

audio-visual aids, giving clear instructions, using various materials, motivating

the students, and giving feedback were some of the points found to be

39

statistically significant, and hence, areas to be further trained. Kervancıoğlu

(2001) contends that whatever the focus or format of the INSET program is,

the basic purpose of the program should be to determine what learners want

and need to learn.

Another study was conducted by Karaca (1999) in twenty schools in which

the medium of instruction is English, including Anatolian High Schools,

Anatolian Vocational High Schools and private schools featuring English

preparatory classes in Eskişehir, Sivrihisar, Çifteler and Bozüyük. He found

that in-service training is a means to build professional development in the

teaching and language development process. He suggested that the in-service

teacher training activities and programs should be based on what language

teachers think about ELT and on how they apply it their own classes.

Özen (1997) conducted a study investigating the perceived in-service

teacher training program needs of the Freshman Unit teaching staff of Bilkent

University and the question of whether implementing in-service training

programs would serve in the long term to the professional development of the

Freshman Unit teaching staff. Seventeen teachers were involved in the study.

Questionnaires and interviews were the two data collection instruments. A

questionnaire was distributed to the instructors; and the head of the department

was interviewed. The results of the study indicated that Freshman Unit teachers

as well as the Head of the Department perceived a need for in-service teacher

training programs as a means of professional development, but that there were

constraints to the implementation and development of such training programs,

such as participants’ workloads, funding and access to relevant programs. The

main areas to be improved were found to be: materials preparation and

assessment, skills improvement, testing, curriculum design and development,

classroom management, methodology, and giving feedback. Özen concluded

that teachers of the Freshman Unit and the administration are enthusiastic

about the benefits of in-service teacher training programs.

Finally, Korukçu (1996) carried out a study among eight English medium

universities in Turkey that have both Departments of Basic English that

provide a one year intensive program of English and English Language

40

Teaching departments. The participants were 67 ELT students in their fourth

year of pre-service education and 28 beginning teachers. The data were

collected through questionnaires. The aim of the study was to determine the

problems of beginning teachers and the opinions of the fourth year students

about the possible problems they will encounter when they start teaching. In

addition, the skills and areas to be covered in an induction program were

investigated as part of the study. The results indicated that teaching methods,

classroom management, lesson planning and motivating the students are the

most problematic areas for beginning teachers. On the other hand, the fourth

year ELT students believed that they will encounter problems in terms of

classroom management, lesson planning, and motivating the students when

they start teaching. The experiences of beginning teachers and the opinions of

ELT students revealed similar characteristics. It was also found that an

induction program should provide beginning teachers with information mainly

on different teaching methods, classroom management, lesson planning and

motivating the students.

2.9. Reflective Teaching

Reflective teaching provides teachers with the opportunity to think

critically about their own performances. Therefore, it is crucial to integrate

reflective teaching as a component of INSET programs so that teachers

determine their own strengths and weaknesses and the programs maximize

their effectiveness.

Reflective teaching has been the concern of several authors. Richards and

Nunan (1990) define teaching as an interactive process among a group of

people learning in a social setting, usually described as a ‘classroom’.

Reflection in teaching involves the relationship between an individual’s

thought and action, and the relationship between an individual teacher and his

or her membership in a larger collective called society.

Lange (1990) sees an intimate relationship between reflective teaching

and teacher development: The reflective process allows developing teachers

41

latitude to experiment within a framework of growing knowledge and

experience. It gives them the opportunity to examine their relations with

students, their values, abilities and their successes and failures in realistic

context. It begins the developing teacher’s path toward becoming an ‘expert

teacher’ (p.240-250).

Farrel (1998) describes reflection-in-teaching as teachers subjecting their

beliefs and practices of teaching to a critical analysis. ESL/EFL language

teachers can benefit from reflective teaching in four main ways: (1) It helps

free the teachers from impulse and routine behavior. (2) It allows teachers to

act in a deliberate, intentional manner and avoid the ‘I do not know what I will

do today’ syndrome. (3) It distinguishes teachers as educated human beings

since it is one of the signs of intelligent action. (4) As teachers gain experience

in a community of professional educators, they feel the need to grow beyond

the initial stages of survival in the classroom to reconstructing their own

particular theory from their practice. Reflective teaching facilitates the

construction of such theory (p. 9).

Pennington (as cited in Farrel, 1998) states that there are two components

of change: innovation and critical reflection. Critical reflection refers to an

activity or process in which a past experience is recalled, considered and

evaluated. Pennington (1992) defines reflective teaching as ‘deliberating on

experience, and that of mirroring experience.’ A reflective/developmental

orientation is a means for improving classroom processes and outcomes and

developing confident, self-motivated teachers and learners.

Richards (1987) sees reflection as a key component of teacher

development. Self inquiry and critical thinking can help teachers move from

one level where they may be guided largely by impulse, intuition or routine, to

a level where their actions are guided by reflection and critical thinking.

According to Schön (1987) reflection-in-action is concerned with

thinking about what we are doing in the classroom while we are doing it; this

thinking is supposed to reshape what we are doing.

42

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

3.1. Introduction

This research project investigates the in-service teacher training needs of

English language instructors at TOBB University of Economics and

Technology, DFL and explores which professional skills they need to develop

for their betterment as teachers. Furthermore, this study seeks to determine the

scope and methodology of the teacher training unit to be set up based on the

findings of the study.

This chapter is composed of four sections. The first section is an

introduction which provides basic information about the study. The second

section presents information concerning the number of instructors presently

employed in the DFL and the number of instructors involved in this study.

Factual data about the participants’ education level, teaching certification, age,

gender, work experience in the field of ELT and work experience at TOBB

ETU, DFL will be discussed. The third section includes information about the

instruments used in data collection; and information about validity and

reliability and database related to the study will be presented in the fourth

section.

3.2. Participants of the Study

This study was carried out at TOBB ETU, DFL in the second semester of

the 2006-2007 academic year. Although there are currently forty-five

instructors in the department, this study was conducted with the cooperation of

only the thirty-nine instructors teaching preparatory classes. The remaining six

instructors were not included in this research project, as they teach

43

departmental English courses and their scope of needs might not reveal similar

characteristics.

The participants signed “Subject Consent Forms” (see Appendix B), stating

that they participated in the study voluntarily. The participants were assured

that their names would be kept confidential and that their responses would not

be used for other studies.

The number of females outweighs the number of males employed in

department. The table below displays the gender distribution of the

participants.

Table 3: Gender distribution of the participant instructors (N = 39)

Gender No of instructors %

Female 34 87 Male 5 13

All of the participants were native speakers of Turkish and graduates of

departments related to language. TOBB ETU’s DFL has a policy of hiring staff

who are graduates of English Language or related departments. The

undergraduate degrees of the instructors are given in Table 4.

Table 4: Undergraduate (BA) degrees of preparatory unit staff (N = 39) Departments of Graduation No of Instructors %

English Language Teaching 18 46 English Language and Literature 9 23 English Translation &Interpretation 4 10 Linguistics 6 16 American Culture and Literature 2 5

Half of the thirty-nine instructors to whom the questionnaires were

administered, are graduates of an English Language Teaching department. The

remaining eighteen instructors hold a degree related to English Language.

44

The majority of the instructors employed in the DFL are pursuing master’s

or doctorate degrees. Table 5 summarizes the educational status of the

participants.

Table 5: Educational Background of the preparatory unit staff (N = 39) Educational background No of Instructors %

Bachelor of Arts 14 38 Master of Arts 22 54 (completed or pursuing) Phd 3 8 (completed or pursuing)

In the 2005-2006 academic year, the number of students attending

preparatory classes increased and the DFL administration recruited thirty new

instructors, some of whom were recent university graduates. Table 6 indicates

the distribution of the participants according to their teaching experience in

general.

Table 6: Total teaching experience of participants (N = 39) Teaching Experience No of Instructors % (in general) less than a year-1 year 2 5 2-3 years 18 46 4-5 years 9 23 6-10 years 7 18 11 years or more 3 8

As the data reveals, the number of novice instructors who have taught less

than four years outweighs the number of experienced instructors in this study.

The teachers with a minimum of four-years of experience are regarded as

experienced in this study. As the data reveals, the number of novice instructors

that have taught less than a year and at most 3 years outweigh the number of

experienced instructors in this study. Day (1999) proposes that professional life

cycle of a teacher passes consists five stages: launching a career, stabilization,

new challenges and new concerns, reaching a professional plateau and

disenchantment. The first stage is between 1-3 years of teaching experience

45

and during this stage, teachers go through easy or painful beginnings to their

career and they are committed and enthusiastic. Taking into consideration the

above mentioned professional life cycle of teachers, the teachers with a

minimum of four-year experience are regarded as experienced in this study as

they have passed through ‘launching a career’ stage. Therefore, it can be

inferred that there are twenty novice instructors and nineteen experienced

instructors who participated in this study.

In addition to the general teaching experience of the instructors hired to

teach preparatory classes, their teaching experience in TOBB ETU’s DFL was

considered. Table 7 reveals data concerning participants’ teaching experience

at TOBB ETU.

Table 7: Teaching experience at TOBB ETU (N = 39) Teaching Experience No of Instructors % (at TOBB ETU ) less than a year-1 year 18 46 2-3 years 20 51 4 years 1 3

Only 1 instructor has been working in the department for 4 years, ie. since

the establishment of the university in the 2004-2005 academic year. The

majority of the participants have been working in the DFL for 2-3 years.

As previously stated, this study aims at exploring the perceptions of

instructors regarding in-service training programs. However, their familiarity

with and involvement in a previous in-service training has potential impact on

the findings. Table 8 summarizes whether or not the instructors had

participated in other INSET programs:

46

Table 8: Participation in a previous INSET program (N = 39) Attendance at other No of Instructors % INSET programs Yes 25 64 No 14 36

It was expected that most of the participants would not have attended other

INSET programs, as 51% are novice instructors. The findings related to

involvement in a previous INSET program were contradictory to the

expectation. Although more than half of the staff is composed of novice

instructors, 64% claim to have taken part in an in-service program prior to this

research project.

The participants of this study were also asked whether or not they had

obtained a formal teaching certificate. Table 9 reveals the number of instructors

who had obtained at least one certificate:

Table 9: Distribution of participants possessing a formal teaching certificate.

Teaching Certificate No of Instructors %

Yes 35 90 No 4 10

The findings reveal that although 54% of the instructors have graduated

from departments other than English Language Teaching, a dominant majority

of them possess a formal teaching certificate. Most of the participants obtained

the certificates before graduation from university in their senior years. 15% of

the participants attended Certificate of English Language Teaching

(CERTELT) or Diploma in English Language Teaching (DIPELT) programs

pursuant to their undergraduate degrees.

The Chairperson of the department also participated in this study. He holds

both a BA and a MA degree in English Language Teaching as well as another MA

degree and a PhD degree in Curriculum and Instruction. He has an extensive

educational background in language teaching, which is an advantage to

understand the needs of the instructors teaching English. He has taught general

47

English courses at all levels, offered English for Specific Purposes courses at his

previous workplaces, and trained some teachers in INSET courses.

3.3. Data Collection Instruments

By means of this study, the researcher aimed to determine the perceptions

and needs of the preparatory class instructors in terms of teacher training and

she decided that the study could prove its concurrent validity by triangulation.

Triangular techniques in the social sciences attempt to map out, or explain

more fully, the richness and complexity of human behavior by studying it from

more than one standpoint (Cohen et al., 2000, p.112). Therefore, this study

employs both quantitative and qualitative data collection instruments such as

questionnaires, interviews and class video recordings.

Rossman and Wilson (cited in Miles&Huberman, 1994) suggest three

broad reasons for why there is a need to link qualitative and quantitative data:

1) to enable confirmation or corroboration of data via triangulation; 2) to

elaborate or develop analysis, providing richer detail; and 3) to initiate new

lines of thinking through attention to surprises and paradoxes, “turning ideas

around”, providing fresh insight (p. 54). For this reason, this study aimed to

gain insights about the viewpoints of the instructors by providing rich details

concerning the scope of the study.

3.3.1 Questionnaires

A questionnaire was designed for this study with the purpose of

determining the needs of the instructors with respect to in-service teacher

training. The questionnaire also gathered information about the perceptions of

instructors regarding the establishment of a Teacher Training Unit in the

department, and the scope and the methodology of the teacher training unit that

will be set up in the 2007-2008 academic year were investigated. The

questionnaire administered to the instructors was prepared with the guidance of

48

the research method books by Cohen, Lawrence and Morrison (2000) and the

studies of Tevs (1996), Türkay (2000), Alan (2003), Özen (1997) and

Kervancıoğlu (2001).The sample questionnaires were compared and common

important items which related to identifying the needs of the participants were

selected. The related items were then modified to fit the context of this research

project.

The initial data were collected by means of the questionnaire (see

Appendix A) administered to 39 instructors teaching the preparatory classes in

the second semester of the 2006-2007 academic year. The questionnaire

consisted of three parts. The first part consisted of 42 Likert-scale items. Items

1-14 aimed to determine the perceptions of the instructors concerning the

characteristics of in-service teacher training programs. Items 15-33 included

statements to determine the needs of the instructors in terms of professional

development. Items 34-42 focused on determining the ideal methodology for

an in-service training program. The second part of the questionnaire included

one open-ended question and a section requesting further comments on in-

service training practices at TOBB ETU, DFL. Some of the answers to open-

ended questions were quoted by using pseudonyms for anonymity purposes

and they were presented in the Results chapter. Participants were also asked to

suggest a name for the teacher training department that is to be established in

the 2007-2008 academic year. Upon determining the suggestions, a poll was

undertaken to choose the best name for the Unit. This question was added to

the questionnaire with the aim of demonstrating the value given to the

participants’ input into the decision making process. The third part of the

questionnaire collected personal data about the participants.

3.3.1.1 Reliability

After the first draft of the questionnaire was completed, alterations were

made to both the format and the content, pursuant to consultation with three

colleagues in the DFL and the thesis advisor.

49

Pre-testing is crucial for the success of any questionnaire. Pilot studies are

used primarily to increase the reliability, validity and practicality of the

questionnaire (Oppenheim,1992; Wilson and McLean (1994). As the second

step of this research project, a pilot study was conducted at Gazi University’s

Department of Foreign Languages, among sixteen preparatory class teachers.

This university was chosen for the pilot study because this department, like

TOBB ETU’s DFL, does not have an in-service training unit.

Afterwards, the results were computed in SPSS (Statistical Package for the

Social Science) 13 version and Cronbach Alpha Analysis was calculated to

find the reliability coefficients of the questionnaire. A value of .85 was found.

The results of the pilot study indicated that the questionnaire was reliable.

3.3.2 Class Video Recordings

Video recordings of lessons held by the participants were utilized as a

second data collection tool. The 50-minute lessons of ten instructors who

completed the questionnaire were videotaped for this study. Although data

based on direct observations allows the researcher to have first hand

information, direct observation was not used as a means of data collection in

this study. Due to the administrative position of the researcher in TOBB ETU’s

DFL, her presence in the classroom could have influenced the attitude and

teaching of the instructors. Thus, instead of participant-observation by the

researcher, class sessions were recorded by one of the instructors in the

department and these recordings were utilized as data collection tool in this

study.

Five of the instructors whose classes were videotaped by one of the

instructors in the DFL were novice instructors whereas the remaining five

instructors were experienced. The main purpose of recording the classes of

both novice and experienced instructors was to determine whether their

practical needs determined via the questionnaire correlated to the findings of

the video recordings.

50

The videotaped lessons were then transcribed and analyzed via a structured

observation tool (see Appendix C). The observation tool consisted of sub-

categories like self-presentation and classroom persona, classroom

management, classroom procedures and lesson planning, giving feedback, error

correction and giving instructions. The subcategories were determined based

on the findings of the questionnaire. The sub-section of the questionnaire

which aimed at identifying the perceived needs of the instructors was

thoroughly examined to determine the points to be observed via videotape. The

findings concerning classroom management, classroom procedures and lesson

planning, giving feedback, error correction and giving instructions were some

of the skills determined as less problematic, according to the results of the

questionnaire analysis. Several items, such as ‘teaching mixed ability groups’,

‘promoting collaboration among students’, ‘motivating the students’ and

‘raising language awareness of the students’ on the questionnaire were further

explored during the class video recordings. The reason why the researcher

focused on these items was their mean scores. To clarify, giving instructions,

error correction, giving feedback, and lesson planning were the items for which

the instructors reported the lowest need for additional training. As for

classroom management, the slight difference between the mean scores of the

novice and experienced instructors on the questionnaire raised the need to

explore whether this difference was the same in a real classroom environment.

Therefore, issues of classroom management were analyzed on the class

videotapes. The subcategory of self-presentation and classroom persona was

particularly essential, as the teacher’s attitude and behavior are closely related

to the ability to manage the class.

3.3.3. Interviews

Pursuant to the video recordings, the final data collection tool administered

in this study was interviews. As interviews are a crucial means of qualitative

research which complement quantitative data, the participants were

51

interviewed so that they have the opportunity to personalize issues stated in the

questionnaires and observed in the video recordings.

The research interview serves three purposes. First, it is used as the

principal means of gathering information having direct bearing on the research

objectives. Second, it is utilized to test hypotheses or to suggest new ones; or

as an explanatory device to help identify variables and relationships. And third,

the interview is used in conjunction with other methods in research undertaking

(Cohen et al., 2000, p.268).

An interview guide is used in this study as the interview format. This

approach allows the interviewer to specify a range of questions to be covered

in advance which facilitates formulating the wording and the order of the

questions. However, the interviewer has the flexibility to modify the pre-

determined questions according to the individuals to create a natural

conversation (Lynch, 1996, p.128). With a view to encompass the previously

used data collection instruments, interview questions were determined on the

basis of the results of the questionnaire and the class video recordings.

Interviews were held with 10 instructors whose classes were videotaped.

Appointments were made with the instructors individually and the interviewees

were handed the questions beforehand. There were some common questions

like ‘How do you evaluate the findings of the questionnaire about classroom

management? Do you think novice teachers encounter more classroom

management problems than experienced teachers? ‘, ‘What should be the scope

of an INSET program?’, ‘How do you evaluate the findings of the

questionnaire about giving instructions, teaching mixed ability groups?’, ‘Do

you prefer to be trained by external trainers or by one of your colleagues in the

Department? Why?. The above mentioned questions were asked to each

interviewee but several question items were based on the individual

questionnaire responses and the findings of the videotapes. The researcher

conducted a semi-structured interview because although the questions were

predetermined, some instant questions arose during the interviews.

The interviewees were asked to reflect on their own responses in the

questionnaire as well as the general findings of the triangulated data.

52

Furthermore, they were requested to elaborate on the findings of the video

recordings. As the participants were asked to look backwards and to deal with

their experiences, this study bears the characteristics of a retrospective study.

All interviews were videotaped and transcribed. Some answers of the

interviewees were quoted with pseudonyms for anonymity purposes. Then, the

interviews were analyzed and interpreted by coding the recurring themes under

pre-determined headings, obtained via interview questions.

The basic codes in the analysis were concerning giving feedback, error

correction, teaching mixed ability groups, teaching pronunciation, giving

instructions, classroom management, the need for an external trainer, the scope

and sequence besides the methodology of the in-service training programs,

classroom interaction, the need to be trained on language proficiency, and

finally the common points with respect to the needs of both novice and

experienced instructors and whether novice and experienced instructors need to

be trained in the same in-service training programs.

Apart from the interviews held with 10 instructors, an interview was

conducted with the Chairperson of the Department of Foreign Languages at

TOBB ETU, with a view to ascertain to what extent the perceptions of the

instructors concerning INSET design and the professional needs correlate with

the perception of the administration. The interview lasted approximately one

hour and was tape recorded. The questions were handed to the Chairperson

beforehand, and he was directed similar questions that the instructors

elaborated on. His answers were also analyzed qualitatively and the findings

are presented under the related research question. The interview was

transcribed and the answers were compared with those of the teaching staff to

specify the areas of similarities and differences between the Chairperson and

the teaching staff.

3.4. Database

A comprehensive research has been conducted for this study. Relevant

literature on teacher training and the studies alike were scrutinized so as to

53

prepare questionnaire items. Eight different questionnaires of related research

projects were overviewed. A total number of 211 items were thoroughly

examined. After the questionnaire items were determined, a pilot study was

conducted among sixteen instructors at Gazi University, Department of Foreign

Languages. The pilot study was administered on February 26th, 2007.

Pursuant to the pilot study, the participants at TOBB ETU, DFL were

distributed the questionnaire and the “Subject Consent Forms” (see Appendix

B). The questionnaires and the forms were collected on March 30th, 2007. As

the second step of the research, an observation analysis sheet (see Appendix C)

has been designed with reference to Eröz’s observation tool (2007) with an

additional overview of five other tools. Video recordings were carried out by

one of the English language instructors in the DFL. 50-minute lessons of 10

instructors were videotaped and the recordings lasted 8,5 hours. Some essential

points from the videotaped lessons were first noted down and the findings were

transferred to the structured observation tool. The transcriptions lasted 15

hours.

Upon pursuing the questionnaires and class video recordings, interviews

were held with ten instructors. Each interview lasted approximately 1 hour and

a total of 10 hours were spent for the interviews. Interviews were conducted

from April, 30th to May, 4th 2007 and were transcribed in 20 hours. Following

the instructor interviews, an appointment was arranged with the Chairperson of

the department in advance and an interview was conducted on April 19th, 2007.

The interview was audio taped and then transcribed in 2 hours. A total of 55,5

hours were spent for the data collection and analysis of this research project.

54

CHAPTER IV

RESULTS

4.1. Introduction

This study gathered data concerning the needs of the instructors employed

in the preparatory program of the DFL at TOBB ETU, pertaining to the

concept of professional development. All thirty-nine instructors teaching

preparatory classes and the Chairperson of the DFL were involved in this study

which sought primarily to identify the needs and viewpoints of the instructors.

The results were analyzed to determine whether the views of experienced and

novice teachers differed. Furthermore, this study sought to ascertain the

essential qualities of an effective teacher training program and the best practice

methods to be implemented in the training sessions.

For the purpose of this study, three research questions have been

formulated:

1- What are the opinions of instructors and administrators at TOBB ETU

Department of Foreign Languages concerning in-service teacher training,

in terms of its scope, instructional methods and trainer profile?

2- What professional needs do instructors at TOBB ETU, DFL have that

should be addressed by an in-service training program?

3- Is there a difference between novice and experienced instructors in terms of

their needs and expectations from an in-service training program?

In the subsequent sections of this chapter, the results obtained from data

analysis will be presented and discussed.

55

4.2. The opinions of instructors and administrators at TOBB ETU

Department of Foreign Languages concerning in-service teacher training,

in terms of its scope, instructional methods and trainer profile.

The first research question seeks to determine to what extent the

instructors in TOBB ETU’s DFL believe in-service training programs are

essential for their professional development. Moreover, it aims to analyze the

opinions of the participants regarding the characteristics, scope and

instructional methods of INSET programs. In order to accomplish this aim,

data were collected through questionnaires, class video recordings and

interviews.

As shown in Table 10 below, the mean scores of the answers given to

items 1-14, which are related to the characteristics of INSET programs, vary

between 2.85 and 4.67 and the mean scores of items 34-42, which are

concerned with the methodology of INSET programs, vary between 2.64 and

4.21. Item 7 stating that INSET programs should guide the trainee teachers to

reflect on their own teaching received the highest mean score (M=4.67)

whereas item 39 which was about benefiting from diary studies as part of the

INSET programs received the lowest mean score (2.64).

The following table displays the items 1-14 and 34-42 with the mean

scores and standard deviations:

56

Table 10: Items Related to Characteristics and Instructional Methods of INSET

Items N M Sd

It.7 INSET programs should guide the trainee teachers to reflect on their own teaching

39 4.67 0.58

It.13 Administrators should allocate budget to staff to attend INSET programs

39 4.64 0.58

It.6 INSET programs should keep the trainee teachers up-to-date on recent methods, theories etc.

39 4.59 0.59

It.1 INSET as professional development 39 4.46 0.68

It.5 INSET programs should encourage follow-up activities such as conferences, seminars etc.

39 4.44 0.79

It.2 INSET maintains a balance between the teacher and the administration

39 4.28 0.86

It.3 INSET should provide the teachers with practical teaching skills

39 4.26 1.14

It.8 INSET programs should be conducted by external trainers

39 4.26 1.14

It.40 INSET programs should include discussions

39 4.21 0.70

It.36 INSET programs should include workshops

39 4.15 0.84

It.41 The delivery of information needn’t be trainer-centered

39 4.05 0.92

It.14 I would regularly attend the INSET program at TOBB ETU, the DFL, if conducted

39 3.97 0.90

It.42 The flow of information should be trainee-centered

39 3.79 1.03

It.12 All teachers, novice and experienced, needn’t take part the same INSET programs

39 3.64 1.09

It.37 INSET programs should include dialog journals

39 3.64 0.78

It. 11 All teachers, novice and experienced, should take part in INSET programs

39 3.56 1.12

It.38 INSET programs should include audio/video recordings

39 3.51 0.94

It.35 INSET programs should include microteaching

39 3.51 1.02

It.4 INSET should introduce activities that increase language proficiency of the trainee teachers

39 3.18 1.27

It.10 INSET programs shouldn’t be compulsory 39 3.33 1.28 It.34 INSET programs should include peer observations

39 3.00 1.26

It. 9 INSET programs should be conducted by the Teacher Training Unit at the university

39 2.85 1.25

It.39 INSET programs should include diary studies

39 2.64 0.81

57

Among the items 1-14, the highest mean score (M= 4.67) was found for

item 7 which stated that in-service training programs should guide the trainee

teachers to reflect on their own teaching. Based on this finding, it can be

interpreted that the INSET model which will be prepared pursuant to this

research project should encompass Wallace’s (1991) Reflective Model in

which the effectiveness of INSET courses depend on how well they relate to

trainees’ own reflection and practice.

In addition, participants would like INSET programs to encourage the

teachers to follow activities such as participating conferences and seminars and

reading recent articles. Indeed, the mean scores of item 5 (M=4.44) and item 6

(M=4.59) indicate that instructors are eager to be kept up-to-date on recent

methods, theories and trends in the field of English Language Teaching, and to be

encouraged to attend conferences and seminars and read the most recently written

articles. Koç (1992) and Palmer (1993) suggest that INSET programs should keep

the trainees up-to-date on new developments and methodology. The findings

related to item 5 and item 6, supports the viewpoints 87% of the instructors stated

that INSET programs should encourage trainee teachers to follow activities such

as conferences, seminars, recent articles. 95% of the group agreed that INSET

programs should keep the trainee teachers up-to-date on recent methods, theories

and trends in the field of ELT.

Because a decision about the scope might influence the whole program,

the researcher asked the participants to state their opinions about the scope and

sequence of the INSET program, both on the questionnaires and in the

interviews. In the first item of the questionnaire, instructors were asked if they

perceived INSET programs as a means of professional development. Taking

into consideration the mean score of item 1 (M=4.5), it was noted that

instructors were interested in attending INSET programs. The participants with

whom interviews were conducted were also asked to comment on the

relationship between INSET programs and professional development. Nine out

of ten instructors reported in the interviews that they believed INSET programs

are essential for the improvement of teaching performance and that they would

like to participate in the INSET program that will be designed in the 2007-2008

58

academic year. Taking into consideration the results of the data collection

instruments, it can be inferred that 95% of the participants regard INSET

programs as a means of professional development.

In addition to the instructors, the Chairperson of the Department of Foreign

Languages was consulted via an interview to determine whether or not his

perceptions of INSET programs resembled the teachers’ perceptions. Identifying

the opinions of the Chairperson was particularly essential, as he is the main

decision maker in the department and his ideas will directly impact the structure

of the INSET programs to be implemented in the 2007-2008 academic year.

When asked to elaborate on the meaning of professional development, the

Chairperson suggested that professional development requires improving and

looking for more and encouraged the attainment of new ideas and perspectives.

He stated that in-service training programs are an integral part of professional

development. He added that the basic aim of in-service training is to equip

instructors and administrators with changing and developing educational

perspectives and to provide them with the necessary knowledge and skills to

perform efficiently during this process. The viewpoint of the Chairperson

confirms the instructors’ opinion that it is crucial to design INSET programs as

part of professional development.

Item 3 (M=4.26), the need to be trained on practical teaching skills, item

4 (M=3.18), the desire to improve on language proficiency, item 5 (M=4.44),

the desire to follow activities such as conferences, seminars and recent articles,

and item 6 (M=4.59), the desire to be kept updated with recent methods,

theories and trends in the field of ELT, in the questionnaire aimed to identify

the preferred content of the in-service training program to be offered in TOBB

ETU’s DFL in the 2007-2008 academic year. According to the responses to the

questionnaire item 3 (M=4.26), 85% of the thirty-nine instructors believed that

INSET programs should provide them with practical teaching skills, such as

classroom organization, skills integration, giving instructions, error correction

and the like. When the 10 instructors were asked in the interviews to state their

opinions regarding the scope of INSET programs, on the whole, they said they

did not want to be trained on skills or strategies that are unnecessary for them

59

and their students. Similarly, the interviewees mentioned that the number of

participants might vary in every session, as the number of people who have the

need for that specific course might also differ. The participants of each session

could be determined via a needs analysis questionnaire or one-to-one

conversations. One of the novice instructors stated that there should be some

sessions on how to improve classroom management. Another interviewee

pointed out that the recent trends in English language teaching, like web-based

or collaborative teaching had better be incorporated into the program. The

mean score of item 4 (M=3.2), the desire to improve on language proficiency,

revealed that some instructors like to have training on improving their language

proficiency. According to Cullen (1994, p.163), in most countries where

English is not the medium of communication, the main concern of teachers is

the need to improve their command of the language so that they can use it more

fluently and more confidently in the classroom. Thus, in-service programs

should include this component, either directly or indirectly.

Dubin and Wong (1990) emphasize that INSET usually takes place for

a specific purpose; therefore, gathering information at the outset to obtain a

meaningful needs analysis is crucial. It can be deduced from the findings related to

item 3 that that this needs analysis study matches the expectations of the

participants who like to focus on their individual needs based on a needs analysis

in an INSET program.

The responses to item 4 (M=3.18) revealed that some instructors do not want

the training programs to introduce activities that increase the trainee teachers’

language proficiency. This item was further analyzed in interviews and Çınar

expressed that participants do not need to improve their language skills:

Çınar: At TOBB ETU, we have really qualified teachers. Some of them are not very experienced but they all have great certificates diplomas for teaching English and I do not think they need to be trained on how to improve their language skills. As this statement exemplifies, when the interviewees were asked to comment

on whether there is a need for the instructors to be trained on improving language

proficiency, participants agreed that they did not need further training on this

60

subject. Only one out of ten instructors stated that INSET programs should

incorporate activities related to improving the trainees’ language proficiency:

Derya: I once attended a program held at our university, but there was not a workshop on language proficiency for example. Maybe people think that it’s not necessary for a teacher at first; but, I think it is necessary, because we sometimes make mistakes. That’s why I believe we should be trained on improving our language proficiency. Taking into consideration the above statement and the percentage (38%) of

the participants who indicated on the questionnaire that they would like to

participate in program activities related to improving language proficiency, it can

be interpreted that the participants have divergent opinions on this item. Dubin and

Wong (1990) suggest, however, that improving trainees’ language proficiency is

crucial; in fact, they designed an INSET course with this purpose in Hungary,

which proved to be successful in accomplishing their aims. Language teachers

should display constant effort to improve their language skills, be it through

reading, watching films in the target language, participating in a weekly or daily

conversation group, hanging out with native speaker friends, keeping a diary or

writing essays, stories in the language, or traveling regularly to places where the

language is spoken by natives. Considering that all of the teachers in the DFL are

non-native speakers, INSET programs aimed at improving language proficiency

could be very productive especially for those who emphasized their need to

improve their command of language.

In order to identify the expectations of the instructors in terms of the

trainer profile, two items were included in the questionnaire. The mean scores

of item 8 (M=4.26) and item 9 (M=2.85) revealed that the instructors who

participated in this study believe that the in-service training programs that will

be organized in the institution subsequent to this study would be better

organized by external trainers. However, the mean scores of the experienced

(M=3.8) and novice instructors (M=4.7) demonstrated that the opinions of both

groups diverged. Six out of ten instructors who took part in the interviews

commented further on this item. It was noted in the interview that four

61

instructors had serious reservations about being trained by one of their

department colleagues:

Elif : We’re all colleagues here. For example, if somebody from this school is assigned to give training, and he or she gives feedback or criticizes, individuals might take it personally. In order to avoid interpersonal clashes, it’s better to use external trainers.

Another participant explained the disadvantage of being trained by one of

their colleagues in the DFL differently:

Feyza : And if we have an internal trainer, well, if you ask me, it wouldn’t be really exciting for me to attend the classes…If someone tells me, so-and-so is going to give a presentation, I know what I’m going to get from that person. But if someone tells we’ll have a guest, and he or she is going to give a presentation about such-and-such topic, I would be really interested in hearing it, because I do not know anything about this person. The above statements revealed that some instructors are more willing to be

trained by experts outside the institution than by one of their colleagues in the

DFL. However, two instructors stated that their criterion is to be trained by

professional, experienced trainers instead of making a choice between being

trained by an insider or outsider. They added that they would not mind having

internal trainers if one of their peers had 10-15 years experience and expertise

in training teachers and designing INSET programs and was appointed as a

teacher trainer.

One of the experienced instructors stated that he was undecided about

whether it would be better to be trained by an internal or an external trainer. He

suggested that the staff would feel more relaxed and might be more open if

somebody from the institution was assigned for this position. He added that, on

the one hand, an external trainer might not be knowledgeable enough about the

DFL’s resources and needs to be effective; but, on the other hand, s/he might be

more knowledgeable about ELT practices and agendas at other universities and

share his/her knowledge and experiences, which might be an advantage for the

institution. This instructor maintained that both alternatives had advantages and

62

disadvantages; and he proposed that an internal trainer work in collaboration with

experts outside the institution:

Çınar : I said “neutral,” because I believe this could be a blend of two alternatives, O.K, both somebody in the faculty, in-house training, and, of course, people from outside. They could work together in collaboration, and this could be more beneficial for us also. In addition to being addressed via the Likert scale items on the

questionnaire and instructors’ interview statements, the trainer profile was

emphasized by some instructors’ in the open-ended section of the

questionnaire. Semra drew attention to the importance of assigning an

experienced and well-equipped trainer like this:

Semra: I believe setting up a teacher training unit requires a highly organized and planned attempt and a teacher trainer should be well- equipped, highly experienced and someone who will be able to meet the needs of the trainees.

Similarly, Ayşe expressed the necessity to appoint experienced and

qualified trainers in the following way:

Ayşe: The teacher trainer should be quite experienced and be someone who has been in the business for a long time. I do not want to be trained by an inexperienced teacher or trainer who doesn’t have the required qualifications that a trainer should have.

It can be interpreted from the above three statements that a teacher trainer

should be competent in terms of qualifications, be able to address the needs of

the trainees upon determining them, and be experienced enough to present

his/her expertise to trainees. The comments elicited from the instructors

revealed that they have some reservations about assigning somebody within the

institution this responsibility. Indeed, an environment based on trust and

sincerity is required when an internal trainer is in charge with teacher training

programs.

Apart from obtaining information about the instructors’ viewpoints regarding

the trainer profile, the researcher asked the Chairperson’s opinion of potential

63

trainers for the Unit. He stated that both internal and external trainers might be

appropriate for such a program, depending on the context, as both might address

different aspects of professional development. For example, an internal trainer

who knows the trainees in person might monitor their needs better. But, guest

speakers would bring a new perspective to the department by sharing their

experiences with the trainees. Inviting guest speakers with different backgrounds

and fields of expertise to the DFL would provide a variety of INSET opportunities

for the instructors. Hence, the opinions of the instructors and the Chairperson

indicate that benefiting from the experiences of various professionals as well as

assigning a trainer within the department will satisfy more trainees and increase

the motivation of the trainees.

The Likert scale questionnaire analysis for item 10 (M=3.33), stating that

attendance to INSET programs shouldn’t be compulsory, demonstrated that

46% of the group believed that participation to the INSET programs should be

optional. An additional 28% of the instructors were undecided about

compulsory attendance. This item was further analyzed through interviews.

One of the instructors expressed her reservation about compulsory participation

to the in-service training programs, stating that she would feel under pressure if

they were compulsory. Yet, still another instructor believed that such programs

should be compulsory, stating that the program would be more standardized

and address all teachers at the same time. Another point of view from one of

the respondents was that the instructors should be free to decide which program

s/he will attend, as some instructors might have been trained on similar topics

before. The findings of the interview verified the point of view that INSET

programs should not be compulsory for every instructor. This finding confirms

the recommendation of England (1998) that INSET programs should provide a

list of elective options selected by the teacher. The most acceptable view

obtained from this study is to design interest groups and train the instructors

based on their individual needs, and also, to ask the instructors whether they

would like to participate or not. The findings of this study indicate that some of

the instructors do not want to be involved in all the sessions, as they have

studied some of the subject matter in their master’s or doctoral courses, and

64

hence requested that the sessions have optional attendance. Likewise, being

trained on some of the topics in a previous teacher training program affected

their decision. The final reason is that they would like to make decisions

autonomously. The findings related to attendance to INSET programs were

different from the findings of Özen’s (1997) study. In her study, there was a

divergence in the responses of teachers regarding compulsory attendance to

INSET programs.

4.2.1.1. The Name of the Training Unit

In the second section of the questionnaire, instructors were asked to

suggest a name for the Teacher Training Unit to be set up in TOBB ETU’s

DFL. The purpose of including such a question was to emphasize the value of

the instructors’ input in the decision making process. Out of thirty-nine

instructors, twenty-three responded to this item. Some suggestions were as

follows:

- ETU Teachers’ Guide

- Professional Development Center

- Lifelong Learning Unit

- TESL (Training for English as a Second Language)

- TOBB Trainees

- CTC (Cooperative / Collaborative Teachers / Teaching Center )

- Teacher Updating Center (TUC)

- In service Training Unit

- Teachers in Training (TIT)

- Support Center for Teachers

- TTDU

- Training Unit for DFL Teachers at TOBB ETU

- TOBB TETU

- Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach

- Energy Unit

- Teacher Training Unit

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- Happy Hour

- Learning To Teach

- TOBB IDC (Instructor Development Center )

- In-service Training Unit

- Center of Caring and Sharing (CCS)

After collecting the suggested names, a poll was taken and the best name

was chosen. Two instructors did not mark any options. Out of thirty-seven

respondents, thirteen marked “Professional Development Center.” The

selection of this name for the in-service training unit that will be set up in DFL

completely coincided with the answers to the first research question; ie., the

results of the poll confirmed that “professional development” is crucial for the

instructors in TOBB ETU’s DFL.

Besides the names suggested above, one of the participants explained in

one of the open-ended questions of the questionnaire that the name should

remind one that this is an opportunity to “develop” and that it ought to stress

the need for “caring and sharing.” Another instructor pointed out that the name

could be decided after needs were identified; and still another rejected the

concept of a “unit,” stating that the trend is the contrary; in-service training

practices are held with the coordination and collaboration of all the staff, rather

than being managed by particular people employed in such a Unit.

Item 12 (M=3.64) of the questionnaire, stating that all novice and

experienced teachers needn’t take part the same INSET programs revealed that

participants mainly liked to be offered different trainings for novice and

experienced instructors. This item was also further analyzed through

interviews, since one part of this study is to determine differing viewpoints of

novice and experienced instructors. When asked in the interviews if attendance

to the program should be dependent on the level of experience, participants

expressed some varying points of view. One of the novice instructors stated

that she wouldn’t like instructors to be classified as novice or experienced

during training sessions. Similarly, one of the experienced instructors stated

that the groups should not be categorized as “novice” and “experienced,” but

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should be categorized according to instructors’ needs. She also stated that there

are some very important reasons why novice and experienced instructors

should not be trained separately:

Neslihan: I believe in learning from each other. So if you separate teachers in 2 different groups as novice and experienced, you immediately introduce a clear cut distinction. So… instead of building a sense of community, you are actually separating two groups, and therefore, hindering the interaction which will be very beneficial. During the sessions, people learn from each other. I mean, the interaction should not be only from the presenter to the audience, but also, participants are interacting. So I think, having the whole group, novice and experienced, in one place will foster a lot of interaction; and this in turn, will produce, you know, experience brought into the situation. Sometimes experienced teachers are really burned out. They think, ‘O.K., I do not want to do it anymore, or I know this already.’ But seeing the younger ones and their enthusiasm, their motivation and what they do, they might also become, you know, curious again about improving themselves. So they learn from each other. The above statement implies that interaction of novice and experienced

instructors enhances group dynamism and collaboration among colleagues, and

helps to build a sense of community among the group of teachers. Conversely,

two experienced instructors highlighted the importance of giving separate training

to novice and experienced instructors; but their rationales differed. One of them

stated there would not be many common points to be learned by both groups, and

that the training would bore the experienced instructors, as they would most likely

already know the subject matter to be trained. The other experienced instructor

highlighted the fact that placing novice and experienced instructors into the same

training seminar might produce an unfair competitive environment, where peers

try to prove themselves to each other.

In order to compare the viewpoints of the instructors and the Chairperson

concerning the target group of the teacher training activities, the Chairperson was

requested to express his opinion about whether all instructors, novice and

experienced, should all attend the INSET activities. He stated that the target

group of training should be all the instructors, including both novice and

experienced individuals. He suggested that designing interest groups and

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identifying the individual needs of the instructors will possibly minimize

problems.

After stating that the groups can be categorized based on the needs of

instructors, the Chairperson categorized some of the programs that should be

offered to trainees according to their profiles: pre-service training, job definition

and adaptation training and on the job training are essential for novice teachers

and newly recruited staff in order to ease their adaptation to the workplace and

inform them about the policies of the institution. Furthermore, he said, it is

necessary for the coordinators to be trained on management science and

technology, research and development, problem-solving, total quality

management, change management, crisis management, organizational

development, synergy and time management, stress management, conflict

management and project management, as they are the main decision makers in

their units and in the DFL and have to solve numerous problems. The

Chairperson stated that the above mentioned seminars will contribute to

coordinators’ professional development, and in turn, will help them to better carry

out their responsibilities.

When the Chairperson was asked to comment on the scope of the INSET

program planned to be implemented in the department in the 2007-2008 academic

year, he stated that teachers should be trained on practical teaching skills such as

teaching the language skills, classroom management which will enable them to be

more competent in their jobs by improving their professional skills and addressing

the needs of their learners. Furthermore, training on technology use is an

important subject to include in INSET programs, according to the Chairperson.

He elaborated on this point, stating that TOBB is “the university of technology,”

and that this requires the integration of technology into language teaching. He

attaches particular importance to web based and computer based instruction in

language teaching. Currently, a software program is used for materials

development in the department. The Chairperson would like to enlarge the scope

of such materials development activities. He mentioned the project-based study of

the teachers in TOBB ETU’s DFL that was granted an award by The Center for

European Union Education and Youth Programs in 2006. He added that INSET

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programs should incorporate the preparation of new projects that will enable the

teachers to work collaboratively, contribute to their professional development, and

enhance overall teacher quality. Finally, he focused on the importance of learner

centered instruction as part of the INSET programs. He believes teachers become

better qualified by putting the principles of learner centered instruction into

practice during the teaching-learning process of in-service training programs.

According to this principle, the student is the focus of attention and the learner is

an active and engaged participant in activities that arouse interest and encourage

student learning. Students are encouraged to become responsible, independent and

reflective learners who continue learning throughout their lives. It is essential for

the chairperson that INSET programs train teachers to learn about the individual

differences of students through observation and interaction. In the same vein,

instructors stated that they would like to learn how to better address their students’

needs and expectations which implies that learner centered instruction is essential

both for the administration and the instructors.

On the whole, the findings were all related to the first research question,

confirming that instructors in TOBB ETU’s DFL attach importance to INSET

programs as part of their professional development, and that they would like these

programs to have a variety of components and to add value to their professional

development. The viewpoint of the administration confirms the findings obtained

from the instructors. But, having different ideas about the scope of the INSET

program activities, the Chairperson draws attention to the integration of web-

based learning and project-based activities, and the principles of learner centered

instruction.

Taking into consideration of the role and content of INSET programs in the

professional development of teachers, Dubin and Wong (1990) also emphasize the

role of the INSET programs of higher education institutions in the professional

development of teachers. The eagerness of their study’s participants to be kept up-

to-date on recent methods or to be encouraged to follow activities such as

conferences and seminars indicated that professional development is essential for

instructors. In terms of the scope of INSET programs, Waxman (2006, p.189-193)

points out, professional development must be comprehensive and systematic at all

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levels. Similarly, Ur (1992) proposes that INSET programs feature varied content

so that trainees gain a multidimensional perspective and will learn activities

different from the repetitive activities they use in their actual classrooms.

Incorporating all the above mentioned items to in-service programs will render

the program comprehensive. The findings of this study coincided with Alan’s

(2003), Özen’s (1997) and Kervancıoğlu’s (2001) studies indicating that teachers

regard INSET programs essential for their professional development.

4.2.1.2. Instructional Methodology for INSET

Besides collecting information about the instructors’ thoughts on the scope of

the INSET program, this study seeks to determine the types of methods instructors

regard as essential for benefiting in teacher training programs. It is believed that

the instructors would feel more involved in the process of INSET design if their

ideas were taken into consideration, and that this would ensure the establishment

of a positive atmosphere during training sessions. Questionnaire items 34-42 were

designed with this purpose in mind. They focused on determining the methods

which were frequently preferred by the instructors.

The findings of the questionnaire revealed that workshops and discussions,

items 36 (M=4.15), workshops, and 40 (M=4.21), discussions, were the most

favoured instructional methods for an in-service program. It was observed that

using discussions to exchange ideas in INSET programs in item 40 (M=4.3)

received the highest mean score among novice instructors. As for experienced

instructors, they most often marked workshops (M=4.3) as their preferred

method. When the least favorite methods were explored, it was found that diary

studies in item 39 were the least preferred method (M=2.7 for novice and

M=2.6 for experienced), compared to the other items. Furthermore, the mean

score of item 34 (M=3.00) indicated that some instructors were less

enthusiastic about peer observations. Concerning the preferred instructional

methods, interview findings confirmed the questionnaire results. During

interviews, the instructors were asked to reflect on their responses, taking the

questionnaire results on the methodology of INSET programs into

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consideration. All the interviewees expressed their eagerness to participate in

workshops and discussions, as these formats enable participants to interact,

share and exchange ideas while doing hands-on activities. One of the

instructors pointed out the importance of interaction, particularly among novice

and experienced instructors. She added that this might bring dynamism and

energy to experienced teachers, particularly if there are any teachers suffering

from burn out.

Furthermore, peer observations in item 34 (M=3.00) received the second

lowest mean score among items 34-42 which were related to instructional

methods. When two instructors were asked to comment on using observations,

mainly peer observations as a method in an INSET program, the novice instructor,

Feyza, stated that she disliked being observed either by the administration or by a

peer. Being observed made her feel very uneasy, and it distracted her during the

lesson. When asked why she felt so uneasy about being observed, she confided

that she had had a very difficult experience in her CELTA course abroad, and that

her trainers had criticized her very unfairly. She was hardly ever praised by the

trainers in the feedback sessions and this discouraged her to a large extent. A

second, more experienced instructor, Neslihan, explained the reasons for her

reservation:

Neslihan: Well, it’s good. I mean, the intention is good and people do it with goodwill. But it really has to be perfectly structured and the person who is doing it should really know what he or she is doing. It might destroy the positive, supportive atmosphere in the institution. People might feel threatened. So the person who’s observing really should know what he or she should observe and have very good relationships with people. People should trust him or her. Well, all these conditions are really challenging. It’s very difficult. So peer observation should be done very carefully. It can be inferred from the above statement that peer observation should be

well-structured. Peers should be trained on how to give feedback so as not to

destroy the positive, supportive atmosphere in the institution. Otherwise,

observation cannot accomplish its aim.

One of the instructors suggested recording as an alternative for peer

observation. Another instructor stated that observations should be optional. He

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was not completely against observations; but, he recommended systematic

observations at fixed intervals, for example, three times a year. He stated that this

helps to monitor the progress of the teachers. He mentioned that if the

observations were conducted for evaluation, they could turn out to be an exam

and put pressure on the observed teacher. However, if such regular observations

were for developmental purposes, they would be more productive for the teachers.

Diary studies in item 39, (M=2.64) were regarded as the least favorite method

likely to be used during trainings. As for diary studies, there was a unanimous

agreement that they are not preferable when compared to other methods, due to

several reasons. To start with, there is some concern about diary studies’

subjectivity. Several instructors stated that no one can be critical towards himself

or herself; and thus, diaries are subjective data. Furthermore, Neslihan stated that

even though the aim of keeping diaries is to enable the teacher to reflect on his or

her own experience, the result is mainly pages of paper full of factual data. In her

opinion, keeping a diary does not serve its purpose, as it does not guarantee

reflection. Derya reflected on her experience during her bachelor years, revealing

why she had some reservations about keeping diaries. Her teacher had made her

and her classmates keep teaching diaries and the outcome hadn’t been very

productive or beneficial for her.

Pennington (1989), suggests that INSET courses should include “individual

and group experiences involving case studies, problem solving, video viewing and

analysis, direct observation, role play and micro teaching. As one component of

the first research question, the conclusion can be drawn that participants prefer

hands-on experience and like to exchange ideas with their peers during INSET

courses. Peer observation can be used as an instructional method, however,

teachers should be trained on how to give constructive feedback to their peers

beforehand.

Besides determining the preferred methods of an INSET program as part of

the first research question, three open-ended items were included in the

questionnaire to gain some insight into the teachers’ perceptions of in-service

training practices. In the first open-ended item, the participants were given the

statement “In-service training programs should be continual and ongoing.” and

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were asked to state their opinions regarding the duration and frequency of teacher

development programs. Out of thirty-seven instructors who responded to this

statement, eleven instructors wrote that INSET programs should be conducted

weekly or bi-weekly. Nine instructors believed that in-service training programs

should be conducted every year before the new academic year begins.

Furthermore, three instructors elaborated on their answers, stating that in-service

training practices might be held two or three days per week, depending on the

experience of the participants and the subject matter. Only two instructors stated

that such programs should be held during a couple of days every month. Two

instructors reported that they did not think teacher development should be

continual and ongoing. Six instructors emphasized that the frequency should be

determined depending on the needs of the instructors as well as their profile,

experience and the expectations of the institution, the time remaining from the

daily workload, resources available and the load of the in-service program. One

participant mentioned that INSET programs should be of sufficient length but did

not specify the length. One of the striking responses was that INSET programs

should be held every 3 to 5 years. This answer was further explored during the

interview, and it was found that the respondent was a newly recruited novice

instructor who did not have much theoretical background in English Language

Teaching. She stated that it was the first time she had worked at a university and

that she hadn’t participated in in-service training programs before. These factors

might have affected her answer. On the whole, the responses related to the

frequency of the INSET program to be designed demonstrated that participants’

viewpoints diverged. However, whatever the frequency, instructors stated that the

timing of the sessions should be decided by taking into account their workload. It

can be inferred from the findings that designing bi-weekly sessions will be

realistic on the condition that they are rescheduled depending on the workload of

the instructors.

The Chairperson was also asked to state his opinion on the appropriate

duration and frequency of INSET programs. He said that teachers should be

offered continuous and regular training programs. He stated that sessions should

be linked to each other and every session should build on the previous one.

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Furthermore, there shouldn’t be long intervals between the sessions to enable the

sustainability of the programs as well as to promote the efficiency of the program

in general. He agreed with the idea that one-shot teacher training programs

without follow-up do not enable the teachers to internalize and synthesize what

they have learned from training programs.

Taking into account the participants’ viewpoints on the frequency of

INSET programs, it can be concluded that most of the participants prefer

ongoing and regular training. This finding confirms England’s (1998) idea that

most teachers are intrinsically motivated to participate in ongoing

development, because they understand the complexity of their profession. Even

so, this study’s results revealed that expectations of the institution, and the

needs and workload of the trainees should be considered when determining the

frequency of the INSET program to be designed in the 2007-2008 academic

year. In addition, a follow-up of the trainees is crucial in order to monitor to

what extent they put into practice what they have learned in training sessions.

In order to better understand the viewpoints of instructors regarding the

teacher training practices at TOBB ETU, instructors were asked to elaborate on

past teacher training activities in TOBB ETU’s DFL. As mentioned earlier in

chapter I, a project called ‘Collaborative Training’ was conducted in the DFL in

2006. Besides this in-house training session, DFL sent three instructors to

Pilgrims Teacher Training courses abroad and 12 instructors to Bodrum to

participate in teacher training programs organized by Pearson-Longman in the

summer of 2006.

Four out of twenty-five instructors reflected on the teacher training practices

in the questionnaire. Three of them expressed their satisfaction with the teacher

training activities in the department to date. To illustrate:

Derya: The one that was held in 2005 was very beneficial for me. Because I graduated from Linguistic department, I sometimes feel that I do not know enough teaching techniques because of that it was very beneficial for me.

It is apparent from the above statement that the teacher training session in

2005 enabled Derya to learn more about teaching techniques. However, Ada

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who answered this item negatively, highlighted the inefficiency of the

collaborative teacher training activity that was held in the department in 2006,

saying that it did not provide the teachers with enough opportunities to reflect

on their experiences:

Ada: Teachers tried to inform each other about methods in ELT. Some of these attempts led to some problems. As a result, the sessions lacked accuracy, reflection and perspective. The TT unit should tap into the participants’ abilities and guide them in mixing and expanding their abilities. To sum up, it should appeal to all teachers, but ours did not. It can be inferred from the above statements that instructors have divergent

viewpoints regarding the in-house INSET session in 2006. The statements also

reveal that trainees have different expectations from an INSET program, and

that their individual needs and expectations should be taken into consideration

in the design of the program. According to Fullan (1991), most INSET

programs fail because they rarely address individual needs and concerns of the

participants. Therefore, to guarantee the success and maximum efficiency of

the INSET program, it is essential that instructors’ individual needs be catered

to.

4.2.1.3. Aim of the prospective INSET program

Another aspect of the first research question was to investigate the

opinions of the participants about what the aim of in-service training sessions

should be. The analysis of the responses to the open-ended section of the

questionnaire and the interview revealed that some instructors thought the

primary aim of in-service training practices should be to motivate the

instructors. One of the participants stated that an INSET program in TOBB

ETU’s DFL should not be a burden for the teachers, but rather, should motivate

the teachers by encouraging them to improve in every aspect of ELT. Another

participant suggested organizing conferences and meetings to motivate the

teachers.

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According to three instructors, interaction among peers and a cozy,

relaxing atmosphere are of great importance when seeking positive outcomes

from teacher training activities:

Eylül: A teacher development program should be run in a relaxing and friendly atmosphere. All the teachers should enjoy learning how to teach English. We should always bear in mind that the information we acquire in an enjoyable environment will always be more easily

remembered than the information we learn under pressure.

The Chairperson emphasized interaction between all the parties, namely the

administrators, teacher trainers and the trainees in the Department. He stated that

the instructors’ ideas about INSET design should be taken into account when

making decisions. Teacher trainers should act as facilitators and form a bridge

between the expectations of the staff and the administration. In his opinion, it is

essential for trainers to make sure everybody’s opinions are considered, at least to

a certain extent. The findings confirm Koç’s (1992) idea that it is essential to

create an atmosphere in which teachers share and exchange their teaching

experiences, discuss their problems and find practical solutions to their problems

with academic help from educators (p. 48). Indeed, the findings mentioned above,

obtained from all participants, demonstrated that motivational factors and

establishment of a sincere atmosphere are essential for the effectiveness of INSET

programs.

Analysis of the different components of the first research question revealed

that INSET is crucial for the instructors at TOBB ETU. Instructors would like

INSET programs to have a variety of components in terms of scope. They prefer

to be kept up-to-date on the recent developments in the field and to be encouraged

to take part in seminars and conferences as part of INSET programs.

In general, instructors agree that an INSET unit should be set up in the DFL

at TOBB ETU. Although instructors’ views diverged in terms of compulsory

attendance at INSET programs, the dominant view is that they would like to

choose which program to participate in. As for attending INSET programs

organized according to work experience level, the general finding is that

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instructors would like to be grouped according to their interests and needs, rather

than being separated into novice and experienced groups.

In addition to gathering the participants’ opinions about the characteristics,

scope and instructional methodology of INSET programs, another aspect of this

study was to investigate the professional needs of the instructors who participated

in this study.

4.3. The professional needs of the instructors at TOBB ETU, DFL that

should be addressed by an in-service training program.

The second research question aims to determine the professional needs of

instructors at TOBB ETU, DFL. Specifying the perceived needs of the

instructors was of vital importance as they will constitute the basis of the

INSET program design that will follow this study. To identify the needs of the

instructors, five-point Likert scale questionnaire items were used as mentioned

earlier in this chapter. In addition to the questionnaire, class video recordings

were implemented in order to monitor what the actual needs of the instructors.

Apart from the findings of the questionnaire and the class video recordings,

interviews were held with ten instructors to elaborate on the findings of the

above mentioned data collection instruments.

The first data collection instrument was the questionnaires. When the

instructors’ responses to the Likert scale items were analyzed, it was found that

the instructors generally did not indicate a high degree of need for most of the

items 15-33 which were related to determining the professional needs of the

instructors. To clarify, none of the items received a mean score higher than

3.85. Item 33, which was about the need to set up a ‘Teacher Training Unit’ at

TOBB ETU’s DFL, received the highest mean score (M=3.85). This finding is

parallel to the finding of the first research question that the participants regard

INSET programs essential for their development. The mean score (M=3.85) of

this item revealed that the participants are aware of their needs and they would

like to be a part of INSET program.

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When the overall responses of instructors were examined closely, teaching

mixed-ability groups (M=3.59); teaching pronunciation (M=3.41), teaching

speaking skills (M=3.33); and promoting student autonomy (M=3.33) were

found to be among the ones that received high mean scores. The instructors

reported the lowest need for giving instructions (M=2.62). Richards (1990)

believes that INSET should incorporate linguistic and methodological elements

for practice. The highest and lowest mean scores of this study indicated that

although instructors did not feel much need to improve their skills teaching

subjects like grammar, listening, reading and writing, they would like to be

further trained on teaching speaking skills and pronunciation.

Instructors’ responses to the questionnaire items related to their

professional needs were computed in SPSS 13 program and the mean scores of

the responses were determined. The following table displays the mean scores

of the responses to the questionnaire items which were prepared to identify

their perceived needs of the instructors:

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Table 11: Items Related to the Needs of Instructors

Items N M Sd

It.33 the need to set up a “Teacher Training Unit” at TOBB ETU, DFL

39 3.85 1.11

It.28 the need to improve in teaching mixed-ability groups

39 3.59 0.97

It.29 the need to improve on raising language awareness of students

39 3.44 1.05

It.21 the need to improve in teaching pronunciation

39 3.41 1.16

It.19 the need to improve in teaching speaking skills

39 3.33 1.20

It.26 the need to improve on promoting student autonomy

39 3.33 1.08

It.16 the need to improve in teaching listening skills

39 3.15 1.18

It.30 the need to improve on promoting collaboration among students

39 3.05 1.10

It.32 the need to improve on motivating students

39 3.05 1.00

It.18 the need to improve in teaching writing skills

39 3.03 1.14

It.20 the need to improve in teaching vocabulary

39 3.03 1.22

It.17 the need to improve in teaching reading skills

39 3.00 1.21

It.31 the need to improve in determining students’ needs

39 3.00 1.00

It.27 the need to improve on dealing with classroom management problems

39 2.97 1.18

It.15 the need to improve in teaching grammar

39 2.92 1.06

It.25 the need to improve in lesson planning 39 2.87 1.15 It.22 the need to improve in giving oral and written feedback to students

39 2.74 1.07

It.24 the need to improve in written and oral correction

39 2.74 0.97

It.23 the need to improve in giving instructions

39 2.62 1.07

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4.3.1. Teaching Mixed-ability Groups

One aspect of the second research question was to determine whether the

instructors at TOBB ETU, DFL need to be trained on teaching mixed ability

groups. The item related to teaching mixed ability groups received the second

highest mean score (M=3.59) among the questionnaire items 15-33. Novice and

experienced instructors reported exactly the same degree of need (M=3.59).

Therefore, this item was further analyzed through interviews. All the

interviewees who were asked to elaborate on the reasons why this item was

perceived as the highest need expressed similar opinions. Four instructors

commented on this issue during the interviews, and they all found the results of

the questionnaire for this item realistic. They stated that it is challenging for the

teacher to be able to address all students with different levels and learning

abilities. They also mentioned that every learner is unique and that it is essential

for a teacher to be competent in dealing with each student individually. Ece

attested to the difficulty of addressing all the students at the same time, using

multiple intelligences to attract the attention of the students and designing the

class accordingly. As the interview findings verified the questionnaire findings,

it can be concluded that the INSET program should include a component like

dealing with students with different abilities.

4.3.2. Teaching Pronunciation and Teaching Speaking Skills

Teaching pronunciation was found to be significantly challenging for the

instructors according to the questionnaire results. Item 21, which was related to

the necessity to improve in teaching pronunciation, received one of the highest

mean scores (M=3.41). The mean scores were 3,2 for novice instructors and

3,6 for experienced ones. Although pronunciation was not a sub-category of

the observation tool designed to analyze the class videotapes, the researcher

took notes of the frequency of pronunciation errors the instructors made during

the video recorded class sessions. Five of the instructors made pronunciation

errors in these sessions:

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Ege: We prefer /prefır/ to use ‘should’ in that case.

Elif: What’s your comment /koment/ on this question?

Ece: You can see the vocabulary /vəkabjυləri/ items on the list.

Feyza: You’ll show you a presentation /prızənteı∫ən/ about these phrases.

Derya: Do you know what ecotourism /ekotυərızəm/ is?

Taking into consideration the results of the questionnaire and class video

recordings, the researcher decided to explore the relationship between teachers’

pronunciations and their opinions about the need to be trained on teaching

pronunciation. Furthermore, the interviewees were asked why the majority of

the group expressed a need to be improved on teaching pronunciation. The

observation findings coincided with the questionnaire results. The instructors

need to be trained on how to improve their own pronunciation and on how to

teach pronunciation. Some of the interviewees stated that the underlying reason

might be that the instructors are not native speakers of English. They are all

native speakers of Turkish who do not have many opportunities to study abroad

and be exposed to the language in its natural environment. Ege stated that he

obviously needed to be trained on teaching pronunciation, as he did not find

himself competent in pronunciation. He hadn’t had the chance to practice the

language in a native environment, and he wanted to take INSET courses on

improving his oral fluency:

Ege : I generally can say that I need, maybe some kind of training in terms of pronunciation skills or let’s say oral fluency or whatever you say as we haven’t had the chance to practice the language so much.

In contrast to Ege, Ece, who was an experienced teacher, claimed that she

did not need to better her pronunciation, because she believed there is no need

to talk like a native speaker. She further stated that other instructors might have

expressed such a need because they want to talk like a native speaker.

Most of the interviewees reported that all of the instructors in TOBB

ETU’s DFL are non-native speakers of English, and that they do not feel

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competent enough in teaching speaking and pronunciation. The underlying

reason is that all of them were educated in Turkey and have spent only short

periods of time abroad for educational purposes. Hence, they suffer from a lack

of confidence when it comes to speaking and pronunciation. This finding

confirms Cullen’s (1994) idea that it is essential for INSET programs to

improve trainees’ command of language, particularly in countries where the

medium of instruction is not English. Based on the triangulated data, a

conclusion can be drawn that ‘teaching pronunciation’ and ‘improving oral

skills’ of the instructors should be one component of the INSET courses that

will be designed pursuant to this study.

4.3.3. Promoting Student Autonomy

In addition to the above finding, the mean scores of item 26 (M=3.33),

promoting student autonomy, and item 28 (M=3.59), teaching mixed-ability

groups, indicated that instructors consider the needs of their students to be

important. It is apparent that these instructors would like to be autonomous in

deciding which INSET activity to participate in, and that they also value their

students’ autonomy by encouraging them to take on their own responsibilities.

In terms of answering the second research question, the findings demonstrated

that the INSET program should incorporate sessions on promoting student

autonomy and teaching mixed-ability groups.

Şentuna (2002) found in her study that instructors are fairly interested in

promoting student autonomy. She commented on the finding that instructors

may not feel able to promote autonomy based on the curricular issues in their

institutions. Based on this inference, it can be interpreted from the results of

this study that instructors believe that curricular issues enable their students to

be autonomous.

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4.3.4. Instruction Giving Strategies

The needs of the instructors in terms of being improved on giving

instructions were further analyzed in order to answer the second research

question of this study. When the responses to the questionnaire item 23 which

was about the need to improve on giving instructions were analyzed, it was

found that this item received the lowest mean score (M=2.62) among items 15-

33. This indicated that almost half of the instructors felt competent in giving

instructions. Again, this item was further analyzed both via class videotapes

and interviews. According to the class videotape findings, the instructors used

the appropriate instructional language for the level of the students and

employed a variety of strategies like reading, writing or demonstrating the

instructions. However, it was observed that a few instructors hardly ever

checked the students’ understanding of the instructions:

Ege: (signing the course book) ‘I want you to check the grammar box and check whether we have new information or whether we know all this information or not.’

In the above instance, the teacher did not clarify to the students what he

meant by “new information” after he gave the instruction. It was understood

from the facial expressions of some students that they did not comprehend

what to do. In addition to this, five of the instructors most often gave

instructions without first getting the attention of the students. When the

instructors were asked to elaborate on the findings of the questionnaire and

class videotapes during the interviews, five out of seven instructors agreed that

giving instructions could somehow be learned easily, either by means of books

or by trial and error. Deniz argued that there is no need to be trained on giving

instructions and found the questionnaire findings realistic, stating that a teacher

does not have to be creative while giving instructions, just applying some

strategies is enough:

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Deniz: I think that giving instructions or giving feedback, oral or written, is not or does not include anything productive in it. So this has nothing to do with creativity. Maybe there are some strategies you may use to enrich or you may use to make it more motivating for the students or for yourself as well but it’s easy to learn and it’s easy to practice it.

Two of the interviewees had some reservations about the findings related to

giving instructions. To exemplify, Neslihan pointed out the relationship between

giving instructions, classroom management and teaching in general. For her,

telling the instructions to the students does not mean that a teacher applies the

relevant strategies or that the instruction is understood. Using poor strategies can

even lead to classroom management problems for the teachers:

Neslihan: I must tell you that I’m a bit surprised because I would expect just the opposite results because giving instructions and giving written and or oral feedback are very important components of class management and teaching in general. .....So they just think telling the Ss ‘O.K, get into groups, get into pairs, do it’ is giving instruction. Maybe what they understand from giving instruction is different, so I think the keyword here is ‘awareness’.

Similarly, Çınar found the result interesting and stated that this might be

because the instructors had had previous training on how to give instructions in

their undergraduate years, and thought that they possessed the required knowledge

and applied the relevant strategies in class. Ege mentioned that he used repetition,

paraphrasing and exemplification strategies; whereas another instructor said that

she used clarification, rephrasing, modification of the language, and sometimes

even drama when there are ambiguous points in the instruction. The triangulated

data concerning giving instructions confirmed that the instructors did not think

they really need to improve their ability to give instructions. The reason why

teachers did not report high degrees of need to be further trained on how to give

instructions is that experienced teachers have been engaged in giving instructions

at least for four years and novice teachers have had enough formal training during

their undergraduate studies. However, it can be inferred from the analysis of class

video recordings that some strategies, such as checking the understanding of the

students and getting their attention before giving instructions, could be improved.

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4.3.5. Error Correction Strategies

After the analysis of the needs of the instructors to take INSET courses on

instruction giving strategies, their interests concerning error correction

strategies were examined. The mean score for the questionnaire item 24 which

aimed to determine the degree of the need to be trained on error correction

strategies was 2,7 out of 5. This revealed that instructors in general do not

regard this item as a crucial point to be improved. But, the analysis of the

videotapes indicated different findings. It was observed in the videotapes that

most of the 10 instructors avoided correcting errors and some even did not

notice the errors of the students:

Barış: (student) I came here two years ago, I did not think that I’ll have

problems here.

Elif: ………..

Hülya: (student) It do not force to learn English.

Elif: ……….

Similar to Elif, Nilgün also avoided frequent error correction:

Tuna: (student) I just looking for the summer’s coming.

Nilgün: …………….

Atakan: This have two advantages. One of them, I’m learning ………. in

the work in the daily life.

Nilgün: …………

In terms of the strategies employed in error correction, instructors mainly

corrected the error and stated the right form or gave the rule about language.

Doğukan: (student) When I was a child, I afraid of….

Derya: I was afraid of.

Deniz was one of those instructors who gave the right form of the

expression for correction:

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Kartal: (student) She tried to move to the house.

Deniz: moving to the house.

Deniz, however, used elicitation for error correction:

Deniz: Find an adjective from the text synonymous with

Bekir: Utterly.

Deniz: Is ‘utterly’ an adjective?

Bekir: No, it’s an adverb.

In contrast to the above mentioned examples, one of the experienced

instructors, Çınar, hardly ever corrected the errors. In the below example, Çınar

didn’t prefer to restate the correct form of the student’s incorrect sentence and

acknowledged his answer:

Efe: (student) Lack of money doesn’t suffer people a lot.

Çınar: Good, very good.

The rest of the instructors corrected errors to some extent, depending on

the type of lesson and the subject matter in concern. Most often, they stated the

right form or gave the rule about the error.

When the instructors were asked to elaborate on the findings of the

questionnaire and the analysis of the videotapes, six out of seven instructors

who responded to this item stated that they avoided correcting errors in order

not to deflate the students’ enthusiasm for learning. They stated, moreover, that

the need to correct errors depended on the type of error and the subject matter

being taught at that particular moment. One of the novice instructors, Elif,

mentioned that the source of error should be sought initially, because some of

the errors might be performance errors like the slip of the tongue. She added

that she avoided explicit correction in order not to interfere with the students

while they are speaking. However, when the videotape of this particular

instructor was analyzed, it was observed that she avoided correcting almost all

the errors. Another novice instructor, Feyza, expressed similar opinions and

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stated that she avoided correcting errors in class and made implicit correction,

if necessary.

Ege stated that he was against immediate error correction and added that

immediate feedback might be demotivating for the students. He further argued

that error correction depends on the priority between accuracy and fluency:

Ege: I believe that in the beginning, fluency is more important than accuracy. When students improve their speaking skills, they can also improve accuracy later on, depending on the input they get from different sources. From the above expression, it can be understood that Ege assigns more

importance to fluency rather than accuracy. Therefore, he doesn’t prefer

immediate correction. In addition to this, Çınar pointed out that error correction

might have a negative effect on the students. He mentioned that he had some

reservations about correcting every mistake as he believed that students become

reluctant to speak when they are corrected all the time.

Çınar: I believe as a teacher, I should not always, all the time, be correcting all the mistakes because some students are really offended when they’re corrected all the time by the teacher. Especially in Turkey, when you correct all the mistakes that are made by the students, students then become more reluctant. They do not want to take part in the activities and speak. The above mentioned two comments confirmed the class video recording

findings of these two instructors. They chose not to correct all the errors in their

recorded classes.

Neslihan was critical about the findings of the questionnaire item related to

error correction and giving feedback mentioning that giving written and oral

feedback and error correction as well as giving instructions are very important

components of class management and teaching in general. Therefore, she did

not find the low mean score of this item realistic. The findings of this study

demonstrated different results from Duzan’s (2006) study. In her study it was

found that instructors liked to be trained on using different techniques for error

correction. On the other hand, this study indicated that the instructors need to be

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trained on error correction strategies and the timing of error correction even

though the mean score was at the moderate level.

4.3.6. Feedback Giving Strategies

Instructors’ feedback giving strategies were one of the sets of practical

teaching skills examined as part of the second research question. The mean

score (M=2.74) of item 22, the need to improve written and oral feedback

giving strategies, revealed that the instructors feel much need to be trained on

feedback strategies. This item was also further analyzed through class

videotapes and interviews. According to the overall findings of the video

recordings, the instructors were found to be generally competent in giving oral

feedback. Eight out of ten instructors gave feedback to let the students know

how well they performed and acknowledged a correct answer by positive

reinforcement:

Deniz: What are the reasons for the failure of the boy?

Etengü: He overreacted to his family because of his prejudice.

Deniz: Congratulations! That was what I was looking for.

Like Deniz, Ege used positive reinforcement in giving feedback:

Ege: How did the family overcome their problems?

Jülide: They tried to communicate each other by asking for advice from

each other.

Ege: Well done, what else?

Neslihan was one of those instructors who gave feedback to trigger

motivation:

Alp: Teacher, do we use gerunds after ‘had better’?

Neslihan: A very good question. We use an infinitive verb without ‘to’ after ‘had better’. And that’s a good point, by the way.

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Apart from the above mentioned strategies, some of the instructors gave

feedback by summarizing what the students have said whereas some others

indicated an incorrect answer. The manner and the form of language while

giving feedback were generally positive as mentioned above. Even so, analysis

of videotapes and interviews demonstrated that two instructors needed to be

trained on how to give feedback. To exemplify, Nilgün believed that giving

feedback was essential to appraise the students almost all the time to trigger

motivation. Thus, she put great emphasis on giving positive feedback and

reinforcement. She repeatedly said, “Good! Good job!” to the students

although they sometimes made mistakes that needed to be corrected. The

feedback was not effective as it misled the students and no correction was

made at all. Moreover, it was observed during the analysis of the videotapes

that one of the experienced instructors hardly ever used positive reinforcement.

Ece did not thank the students for the right answers; and instead of calling

students by their names to solicit answers, she just asked the questions without

naming the students and the volunteering students responded the questions.

The lesson was carried on as a series of questions and answers without any

feedback.

After the analysis of class videotapes, six out of ten instructors evaluated

the findings of the questionnaire and videotapes related to giving feedback in

interviews. The interviews revealed that some instructors regard giving

feedback only as correcting errors. They did not differentiate between giving

feedback and error correction. Ece mentioned that she agreed with the

questionnaire findings because she thought the instructors at TOBB ETU were

quite competent in giving especially written feedback. Four instructors stated

that they found the results of the questionnaire realistic because giving

feedback is easy to learn and the teacher’s style might be improved in due

course and depending on his/her rapport with students. Feyza was one of those

instructors who thought giving feedback is not a difficult task for a teacher and

it becomes easier once rapport with the students is established:

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Feyza: Giving written and oral feedback is no problem. It’s just easy, if you just know what the problem is, what kind of a problem a student has, you can talk to him or give him written feedback. But day by day, you

get to know students, then, it becomes easier to talk to them or to give written and oral feedback. It depends on the rapport with the students.

Despite this ease, some instructors believed that giving feedback is very

important for students’ improvement. Ege stated that he preferred to use

confirmation sentences in his lessons, whereas Nilgün stated that she used

positive reinforcement frequently to give some kind of inspiration to the

students and to motivate them:

Nilgün: If the student makes lots of mistakes, he will correct his mistakes and if he’s doing a good job, really good job, he’ll be proud of himself. O.K.? And sometimes I give them some kind of feedback like “You’re doing a good job”, they are very proud of themselves and they know that they are doing a good job and that they are on the right path….

Deniz believed giving feedback is not a strategy that requires

comprehensive training in an INSET program. Yet, some strategies could be

improved if a training session is planned for this purpose:

Deniz: Your style may be improved because you may be very strict or you may be very harsh in your feedback whether it is oral or written. The way you use the language or the way you respond to the student may be affected from the courses. But I do not know if there are very different specific strategies to improve giving feedback.

Serkan was a bit critical about the findings because he argued that the best

way to identify shortcomings in feedback giving strategies is to be observed:

Serkan: Well, it’s not always easy to talk about oneself, everybody can believe “Hey, I’m really good at giving feedback and, when I give them feedback they understand it.” How can you be sure about whether you’re doing the right thing? So again a second person or even a third person can notice and observe things.

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Hence, the analysis of the questionnaire, video recordings and interviews

demonstrated that improving feedback giving strategies did not emerge as an

urgent professional need for either novice or experienced instructors. The

qualitative data verified the findings of the quantitative data in this respect. In

the study of Şentuna (2002), however, a significant difference was found

between novice and experienced instructors’ interest in taking INSET courses

on feedback giving strategies. It can be inferred from the findings of the

present study that experienced teachers in TOBB ETU’s DFL apply a variety

of feedback giving strategies. To exemplify, Đrfan repeated the students’

answers, Deniz explained orally why the student has given an incorrect

response, Neslihan gave feedback by summarizing what the student has said.

Most novice instructors in the department are continuing their studies at the

graduate level and taking methodology courses; most likely, that is why they

did not report a high degree of need for taking courses on feedback giving

strategies.

4.3.7. Lesson Planning

The mean score (M=2.87) of item 25, which aimed to determine to what

extent the instructors needed to be trained on how to plan and implement their

lesson plans, was not high in the questionnaire, which meant instructors did not

report an urgent need to be trained on lesson planning. Both novice and

experienced instructors felt competent enough to reject more practice on lesson

planning.

This finding was also further analyzed through class videotapes because

lesson planning is an essential part of classroom management in general. In

addition, it was assumed that novice instructors would feel the need to be

trained on lesson planning as they lack experience, however, the mean score

for this item revealed that it is not an urgent need both for novice and

experienced instructors. The analysis of classroom procedures and lesson

planning via video recordings revealed that the instructors generally plan their

lessons in an organized way and manage time efficiently. Before the video

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recordings, all of the instructors were asked what they would cover during that

lesson; and all of them completed their lessons on time, as planned for in the

pacing of that week. They kept transitions between the activities that aimed at

activating students’ schemata in order to analyze the text better. Furthermore,

most of them tried to focus on raising students’ awareness of the topic and

structure; hence, tried to promote autonomy in learning. Except for one

instructor, nine instructors were prepared to implement contingency activities,

should the lesson end early.

Unfortunately, almost half of the observed instructors failed to use a

variety of teaching techniques, such as role plays, peer teaching, discussion,

and group work. Depending on the subject matter, they employed only one or

two of the above mentioned techniques. The instructors who had more

classroom management problems did not check the understanding, attention

and interest of the students as often as the ones who were more skilled at

classroom management. Almost all the instructors whose classes were

videotaped somehow related the subject matter either to previously learned

material or to future topics. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that

lesson planning isn’t an urgent need that should be incorporated into INSET

courses. However, the integration of a variety of teaching techniques into

lesson planning and execution should be included into the program. The fact

that in the DFL there is a fixed syllabus, which tells the teacher what material

to cover in every single lesson, and the fact that instructors must adhere to the

pacing of the syllabus strictly must be taken into consideration. As the fixed

curriculum forces instructors to be organized in their lesson planning, this

policy of the DFL affected the results of the questionnaire and video

recordings.

4.3.8. Classroom Management

The questionnaire item 27 (M=2.97) concerning the classroom management

was further analyzed via class videotapes and interviews. When the class

videotapes were analyzed in terms of classroom management, it was found that

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seven of the instructors did not have much difficulty in dealing with classroom

management problems:

Neslihan: Cem, what are you doing?

Cem: ………

Neslihan: You’re supposed to be on page 40.

Evren: (another student) Shame on you! (other students laugh)

Neslihan: You see, he said shame on you.

‘Shame on you’ was one of the expressions the teacher had taught in that

lesson and she used the same expression both to warn the chatty student in a kind

way and to recap the usage of the word phrase without humiliating the student.

Neslihan applied another strategy in a different instance:

Neslihan: (tries to elicit the meaning of ‘perfectionist’)

Atakan: A person who tries to make things perfectly is a perfectionist.

Neslihan: (applauds the student) Very good.Although you’re drinking tea, I’ll

forgive you, because this was a very good example.

In the DFL, the students are not allowed to drink tea, according to an

administrative class code. In the above instance, the teacher reminded the student

of the rule indirectly, without offending him, while at the same time

acknowledging his correct answer to the question. Similarly, Cem dealt with one

of his chatty and disruptive students in an appropriate way:

Cem: (notices that Furkan and Zafer aren’t listening to his instructions and walks towards them after the other students start the pair work activity) Gentlemen, were you talking about the activity? If you have any questions, I’m here to help you. Furkan and Zafer: Sorry teacher. We were talking about something else.

Cem: Never mind, now that you know what to do, you can start doing it.O.K?

Furkan and Zafer: Yes, teacher. (Students are then engaged in the lesson)

In the above instance, the teacher preferred to warn the two chatty students by

warning them privately and kindly, after the others had started doing their

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activities. The students understood their mistake and started to participate in the

lesson.

Still, it was noticed that three out of ten instructors need to develop strategies

for dealing with non-participant and chatty students. This can be accomplished by

helping them to reflect on the video recording of their classes as part of INSET

sessions. By this means, they can observe appropriate and inappropriate reactions

to students’ behavior and reflect on their own experiences.

The novice instructors, Nilgün and Derya, hardly ever tried to engage the

non-participant students in the lesson; in fact, they preferred to ignore them.

Nilgün remained apathetic toward some of the chatty students and to the ones who

were using their laptops for irrelevant purposes during instruction. Derya,

however, lost her control over the students when she was faced with a technical

problem during the power point presentation. She lost the attention of the students

when faced with a conflict.

In contrast to the novice instructors, the five experienced instructors generally

employed appropriate strategies to maintain classroom control and discipline,

such as organizing the class effectively, trying to engage as many students as

possible in the lesson, and warning the chatty students indirectly by using humor

or attracting their attention to involve them in the lesson without humiliating them

in front of the class. However, a few experienced instructors preferred to continue

the lesson only with the participating students.

The instructors were asked to elaborate on the findings on classroom

management during the interviews. Eight instructors responded to the question in

the interview and most of their responses showed similar characteristics. One of

the experienced instructors, Đrfan, pointed out the need for a mentor, particularly

for novice instructors. He stated that many teachers receive theoretical knowledge

on how to manage a class during their undergraduate studies. However, in practice

they lack guidance by an experienced mentor. He added that individual instructors

might perceive the term ‘class management’ in different ways, which would affect

the results of the questionnaire. To give an example, one teacher might regard

class management as keeping the students silent by shouting at them, whereas

another might believe it is getting the class tasks done. Therefore, they stated that

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they did not really need to be trained on improving their classroom management

skills thinking that they were competent according to their point of view. Taking

into consideration the triangulated data, it is found that classroom management

should be one aspect of the INSET program and regardless of experience, all

instructors will benefit from the training sessions.

Richards (1987) suggests that teacher development activities should

provide activities to develop teachers’ awareness and principles about effective

planning, organization, classroom management and delivery of instruction. In

light of the triangulated data analysis, it can be concluded that instructors in this

study feel the need to be trained on the following skills:

1- Teaching mixed-ability groups

2- Raising language awareness of students

3- Teaching pronunciation

4- Teaching speaking skills

5- Promoting student autonomy

6- Written and oral error correction

7- Dealing with classroom management problems

The questionnaire analysis demonstrated that 64% of the instructors have

been involved in an INSET program before and 62% either hold their MA or Ph

degrees or currently pursuing their degree programs. Therefore, it can be

interpreted from the findings that the instructors regarded themselves

competent in the above mentioned teaching skills or strategies and the mean

scores of some items were unexpectedly low because of their experiences, such

as previous involvement in an INSET program, master’s or Phd courses taken.

On the other hand, some items did not emerge as urgent needs that should be

improved for the instructors in general:

1- Giving instructions

2- Giving written and oral feedback to students

3- Lesson Planning

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Apart from determining the general needs of the instructors regardless of their

teaching experience, this study also focused on identifying how these needs

differed according to teachers’ classroom experience, and on whether a

statistically significant difference between the novice and experienced groups

exists. The third research question aimed to find the answer to this question.

4.4. The difference between novice and experienced instructors in terms of

their needs and expectations from an in-service training program.

The third research question investigates whether or not the professional

needs of the novice and experienced instructors in the DFL differ. To this end,

questionnaire items 15-33 were analyzed quantitatively to determine whether

or not a significant mean difference in the novice and experienced instructors’

needs exists. An independent sample t-test was computed to compare the

means of these two groups. The reason why the above mentioned items were

analyzed was that the prospective program will address the professional needs

of the participants of this study. Therefore, pinpointing the differences between

novice and experienced instructors was particularly crucial to determine the

scope of the program.

Of the novice and experienced instructors’ responses, three items show a

significant difference between the two groups. The t-test resulted in a p-value less

than 0.05 (p <0.05) for item 20 (P= 0.00). For item 15, the need to improve in

teaching grammar, and item 24, the need to improve in written and oral

correction strategies, p-value was determined to be 0.05. The p-values of these

items revealed that there is a significant difference in terms of the degree of their

need to improve their skills in teaching vocabulary, teaching grammar and using

written and oral error correction strategies. The analysis of items 15, teaching

grammar, item 20, teaching vocabulary, and item 24, improving in written and

oral correction strategies, revealed that experienced teachers are particularly

interested in training sessions on teaching grammar, teaching vocabulary, and

improving written and oral correction strategies. It can be inferred from the

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comparison of the t-test results that all instructors’ expectations of the INSET

course are generally homogeneous. Hence, the INSET program can be designed in

a way that addresses both novice and experienced instructors.

According to Bezzina and Stanyer (2004), teachers’ main challenges include

coping with mixed-ability groups, class discipline, curriculum implementation and

physical exhaustion. In the present study, when the overall mean scores of 18

items were compared and statistically significant items were analyzed, it became

evident that the mean scores of experienced instructors were higher than those of

the novice instructors, with the exception of four items: lesson planning, dealing

with classroom management problems, teaching mixed ability groups and raising

the language awareness of students.

Although the t-test results for these items were not found to be statistically

significant, it is clear that novice instructors feel the need to be trained on

lesson planning. According to the results of a study conducted by Richards and

Li&Tang (1998) among ten novice and ten experienced teachers at City

University of Hong Kong, novice teachers follow a methodology lesson plan

format with pre-, while-, and post-reading activities. These lesson plans were

not learner-oriented; students did not activate their schema in order to

comprehend the text better. In contrast, the lesson plans of experienced

teachers were prepared in shorter time, focused on raising students’ awareness

of the topic, and engaged students in the lesson by having them predict and

interpret the reading text, and integrate it with other skills and knowledge. The

study demonstrated that novice teachers need to be trained on improving their

lesson planning more than the experienced teachers. Based on this finding, it

can be inferred that novice teachers who participated in the present study felt

similar needs and reported to have a higher need to be trained on their lesson

planning strategies. Korukçu’s (1996) study had similar results related to

lesson planning. Her study, conducted among 67 senior students in English

Language Teaching departments and also among 28 beginning teachers at 8

different universities, revealed that both prospective and novice teachers

believed that organizing and managing lesson plans were among the most

problematic areas for them. Furthermore, Şentuna’s (2002) study confirmed

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that novice teachers have a higher degree of interest in further training on

lesson planning.

The results of the present study’s comparison are different results from those

of Şentuna’s (2002) study. Although her study was quite similar, it found that

novice teachers are more interested than experienced teachers in all the items

related to INSET content. The underlying reason why novice instructors

participating in the present study stated that they did not need to improve as much

as the experienced instructors is, however, that 80% of these novice instructors are

continuing or have completed their MA degrees. Thus, in comparison to the

experienced instructors in TOBB ETU’s DFL, the novice instructors do not

believe that the INSET content will necessarily improve their theoretical or

practical teaching skills. The experienced instructor-participants, who have four or

more years of teaching experience, may feel they have lost academic touch, even

though they have been teaching for a long time. In this study, novice instructors

appear to feel more confident than their experienced peers.

The following table displays the mean scores and independent sample t-test

results:

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Table 12: T-test results for the comparison of novice and experienced instructors N M Sd T Sig It. 15 Teaching Grammar Novice 20 2.60 1.10 2.03 0.05 Experienced 19 3.26 0.93 It. 16 Teaching Listening

Novice 20 2.90 1.12 1.39 0.17 Experienced 19 3.42 1.22

It. 17 Teaching Reading Novice 20 2.80 1.28 1.06 0.30 Experienced 19 3.21 1.13 It. 18 Teaching Writing Novice 20 2.70 1.22 1.90 0.07 Experienced 19 3.37 0.96 It. 19 Teaching Speaking Novice 20 3.00 1.21 1.84 0.07 Experienced 19 3.68 1.10 It. 20 Teaching Vocabulary Novice 20 2.25 1.07 2.99 *0.00 Experienced 19 3.32 1.16 It. 21 Teaching Pronunciation Novice 20 3.20 1.20 1.16 0.25 Experienced 19 3.63 1.12 It. 22 Giving Written and Oral Feedback Novice 20 2.45 1.23 1.83 0.08 Experienced 19 3.05 0.78 It. 23 Giving Instructions Novice 20 2.40 1.14 1.31 0.20 Experienced 19 2.84 0.96 It. 24 Written and Oral Error Correction Novice 20 2.45 0.95 2.03 0.05 Experienced 19 3.05 0.91 It. 25 Lesson Planning Novice 20 2.95 1.40 0.44 0.67 Experienced 19 2.79 0.86 It. 26 Promoting Student Autonomy Novice 20 3.25 1.25 0.49 0.63 Experienced 19 3.42 0.90 It. 27 Dealing with Classroom Management Problems Novice 20 3.05 1.19 0.41 0.69 Experienced 19 2.90 1.20 It. 28 Teaching Mixed-ability Groups Novice 20 3.60 1.00 0.07 0.95 Experienced 19 3.58 0.96 It. 29 Raising Language Awareness of the Students Novice 20 3.65 1.14 1.32 0.19 Experienced 19 3.21 0.92 It. 30 Promoting Collaboration among Students Novice 20 2.95 1.19 0.59 0.56 Experienced 19 3.16 1.02 It. 31 Determining the Students’ Needs Novice 20 2.80 1.01 1.29 0.20 Experienced 19 3.21 0.98 It. 32 Motivating the Students Novice 20 2.90 1.12 0.97 0.34 Experienced 19 3.21 0.86 It. 33 Need to set up a ‘Teacher Training Unit’ Novice 20 3.75 1.37 0.56 0.58 Experienced 19 3.95 0.78

Note: N=number of participants M=mean St= standard deviation t=t-test *= p≤ 0.05

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When the perceived needs of the novice and experienced instructors were

analyzed individually, it was discovered that the overall average of the

experienced instructors’ mean scores (M=3.3) was higher than that of the

novice instructors (M=3.0). In terms of teaching skills, item no 29, raising

language awareness of their students, received the highest mean score (M= 3.7)

among the novice instructors. Although it was not the highest mean score

among the experienced instructors, the mean score of item 29 (M=3.2) revealed

that they also need to take INSET courses on this issue. It can be inferred that

both groups of teachers do not feel competent at raising the language awareness

of their students, perhaps because they are all non-native English teachers. Item

number 33 (M=3.85), the need to set up a ‘Teacher Training Unit’ in TOBB

ETU’s DFL received the highest mean score among the experienced

instructors; whereas item no 19 (M=3.33), teaching speaking skills, received

the highest mean score.

Although the responses of instructors to item 27, the need to improve ability

to deal with classroom management problems, were not found to be statistically

significant, the mean difference (Md=0,16) between novice and experienced

instructors was statistically noteworthy. Novice instructors were expected to be

more willing to improve their ability to deal with classroom management.

However, the mean difference indicated that there was only .16 difference between

both groups, which meant that there was only a slight difference between the

perceived needs of both groups. After taking the questionnaire results into

consideration, this item was further analyzed through videotapes and interviews.

The analysis of videotapes demonstrated that, in general, the experienced

instructors seemed to have fewer classroom management problems than the novice

instructors.

When the interviewees were asked to comment on the findings of the

questionnaire and the question of whether or not a difference in novice and

experienced instructors’ ability to manage the classroom exists, all four

experienced instructors unanimously agreed that novice teachers are likely to

experience more classroom management problems than do experienced

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instructors. They reflected on the classroom management problems they

encountered when they were beginning their careers. The four novice instructors

who responded to this question had diverse opinions. Feyza and Derya did not find

the .2 difference between the mean scores of experienced (M=2.9) and novice

instructors (M=3.1) realistic, and agreed that novice instructors are likely to

experience more classroom management problems. They also reflected on their

own experiences and claimed that they have improved their classroom

management skills and strategies over the past few years:

Feyza: Well, I think, I do not find this result realistic because there cannot be that little difference. Novice teachers, when they start to teach, I think they have many different problems in the class. But day by day, they get used to the environment in the class and they get used to different types of people. That’s why your problems lessen. I do not think these results are realistic. Derya: I do not find it realistic because experience is …. I am not a very experienced teacher, but even though I have only two years of experience, when I compare my experiences today with those of the first months, there is, of course, a difference. Maybe after two or three years I’ll be more experienced, and when I compare those years to my first year, I think that there will be a great difference. So I do not agree with this finding.

It is clear from the above statements that some novice teachers believe that

the first years of teaching include a lot of classroom management problems.

Such problems only dwindle when teachers get used to teaching and different

types of students.

In contrast to Feyza and Derya, the remaining two instructors

agreed with the questionnaire finding and added that the difference is not due

to experience, but rather, to personality. They believe it is most important to be

able to motivate students, and that experience doesn’t make any difference if

the teacher has the ability to accomplish this:

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Nilgün: I think it depends on the personality of the instructor. It depends on his or her ability and his skills. I’m a novice teacher, but if I’m more energetic, if I can motivate the students, and if I am more knowledgeable, what is the difference between an experienced teacher and me?”

Although Elif accepted the factor of experience in dealing with class

management problems, she referred to the slight difference between the mean

scores found between novice and experienced instructors, and stated that being an

experienced teacher doesn’t necessarily mean that one can overcome all class

management problems:

Elif: I think both novice and experienced teachers may face some classroom management problems. But experienced teachers have some kind of an advantage, thanks to their experience. Being an experienced teacher does not necessarily mean that you’re a perfect teacher or that you have finished everything in your profession. In this job you have always something to learn. This may be the underlying reason. The results of the triangulated data demonstrated that novice teachers have

a higher interest in being trained on dealing with classroom management

problems than do the experienced instructors. The findings of this study proved

similar to those of Capel’s (1998) study. He conducted a study among 49

novice teachers in the United Kingdom to explore what sort of problems they

encounter in their first year of teaching. The study indicated that initial teacher

training hadn’t prepared them for the school’s realities, and that they

encountered numerous class management problems when they started teaching.

Likewise, Korukçu (1996) found that classroom management is a significant

challenge for teachers in their first years of teaching, and that novice teachers

need help in dealing with classroom management skills. Furthermore, Alan’s

(2003) study on determining novice teachers’ perceptions of an in-service

teacher training course at Anadolu University revealed that the instructors

regarded the sessions on dealing with class management problems as most

beneficial. The present study demonstrated, however, that novice teachers

perceive classroom management as a problem only to a certain extent; they do

not view it as a very crucial issue that must be addressed.

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When the responses of novice and experienced instructors related to items

concerned with self-presentation and classroom persona were compared via

analysis of class videotapes, it was found that there are not many striking

differences. Yet, some of the novice instructors need time and training to

appear more self-confident and establish closer rapport with the students. For

instance, two instructors hardly ever moved around the classroom during the

lesson and three instructors failed to project their voices sufficiently.

Moreover, one of the instructors did not use positive reinforcement at all.

However, it was found in the class video recordings that almost all the

instructors tried to establish and maintain rapport with the students. Even so,

the observation results showed that instructors need to be trained on using body

language, gestures and tone of voice effectively. This conclusion was drawn

because several instructors just stood in front of the class while students were

sitting in their rows and did not walk towards the back rows, whereas some

others preferred to remain seated throughout almost the entire lesson.

In general, the instructors were found to be fairly interested in improving

teaching skills such as teaching writing, speaking, listening, and reading skills.

However, experienced instructors were found to be more interested in getting

further training on skills teaching. The fact that the mean scores of the novice

instructors’ responses to these items are not very high reveal that they do not

feel a higher need than the experienced instructors. This leads to the conclusion

that novice instructors feel more confident in skills teaching, since their

theoretical knowledge is still fresh. Indeed, for most, it has been only a couple

of years since they graduated from a university.

Of the novice and experienced instructors’ responses to 19 items, three

items displayed statistically significant differences (p≤ 0.05), indicating that

the experienced instructors have a higher need to be trained on:

1- Teaching Grammar ( p= 0.05)

2- Teaching Vocabulary ( p= 0.00)

3- Improving written and oral error correction strategies ( p= 0.05)

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Conversely, the analysis revealed that novice instructors are more

interested than their experienced peers in improving the following 4 items:

1- Dealing with Classroom Management Problems

2- Raising Language Awareness of their Students

3- Lesson Planning

4- Teaching Mixed-ability Groups

The analysis of the interview answers revealed that almost all the

instructors who reflected on the professional needs of novice and experienced

instructors accepted that these two groups’ professional needs differ, and that

novice teachers have higher degrees of need in terms of professional skills.

The fact that most novice teachers who responded to the questionnaire did not

feel the need to improve any more than the experienced teachers was quite

surprising, because the general assumption is that novice instructors have

higher degrees of professional need than do experienced instructors.

Karaasslan (2003) states that since novice teachers are in the beginning of

their careers and generally seek to improve their knowledge and skills, INSET

and subsequent professional development programs are more important for

them. He also points out that novice teachers make use of these programs

more frequently than experienced teachers do. Therefore, the conclusion can

be drawn that the novice instructors in TOBB ETU’s DFL, who more

confident than the experienced instructors, pose a new exception to the rule.

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

5.1. Introduction

This study was conducted in the Department of Foreign Languages at TOBB

University of Economics and Technology to investigate English instructors’ and

administrators’ opinions of in-service training programs and to explore the

perceived needs of the instructors teaching English preparatory classes in terms of

teaching strategies and skills. In this chapter, a summary of the findings and

conclusions drawn from these findings will be presented with reference to the

research questions. Furthermore, the limitations of the study, suggestions for

implementation of results, and suggestions for further research will be discussed

in this chapter.

5.2. Summary of the study

This study gathered information about the viewpoints of English preparatory

class instructors in TOBB ETU’s DFL on in-service training programs. Not only

were the instructors’ attitudes towards INSET analyzed, but also their perceived

needs were identified. Moreover, possible methods to be implemented in in-

service training programs were explored while determining the areas to be further

improved for the instructors. One of the aims of the study was to determine

whether the professional needs of the instructors differ with respect to their

experience.

In order to answer the research questions in this study, three data collection

instruments were utilized: questionnaires, class video recordings and interviews.

The data collected were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. A t-test

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was conducted on the questionnaire to identify which items displayed statistically

significant differences among novice and experienced instructors’ responses.

As a result of the study, ample data answering the research questions was

collected. The following section will present the findings obtained through the

study.

5.3. Findings

This section discusses the findings of the study with reference to the research

questions and the relevant review of literature. Each section refers to one of the

research questions.

5.3.1. The opinions of instructors and administrators at TOBB ETU

Department of Foreign Languages concerning in-service teacher training,

in terms of its scope, instructional methods and trainer profile.

The aim of the first research question was to determine whether instructors

believed in-service training programs are part of their professional development.

Their preferences regarding the characteristics of INSET programs as well as its

scope, and instructional methods were further analyzed as part of the first research

question.

The analysis of the data collection instruments revealed that INSET programs

are essential for all the participants in the study. Instructors believe INSET is

crucial for their professional development; and they would like to keep up-to-date

on new developments in the field of ELT and participate in seminars and

conferences as part of INSET programs. It is believed that the academic

backgrounds of the participants had an impact on their eagerness to participate in

such a program. 62% of the instructors are either enrolled in a Master’s or Phd

program or they are already holding their degrees. Thus, they are open to the idea

of professional development; and they spend a lot of time and energy for this

purpose. This finding confirms the finding that all participants believe INSET

programs should be regular, continual and ongoing.

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The chairperson would like INSET programs to train effective and

autonomous teachers who are well-equipped with developing educational

perspectives. He views the establishment of a democratic environment in which

both teacher and trainers, as well as administrators, express and share their ideas

openly and in a democratic way as extremely important.

The findings yielded to the conclusion that although the instructors have

varying needs and expectations from an INSET program, they would like to be a

part of it. In addition, they would like to attend the INSET programs but they like

to be given the option to decide which session to attend as some of them might

have had previous training on some of the topics and might not have an individual

need. Another conclusion drawn from the analysis of the first research question is

that instructors prefer to attend session based on their individual needs instead of

being categorized as “novice” and “experienced”. This finding correlates with the

point of view of England (1998) that INSET programs are a way to overcome, or

at least minimize the teacher burn-out. Placing novice and experienced instructors

together will help to revive the teaching skills of teachers if they are suffering

from burn-out.

In terms of the scope of INSET programs, the findings indicated that

participants prefer a variety of activities which incorporate theoretical knowledge

and practical issues. As the administration put emphasis on learner-centered

instruction, project-based learning and web-based instruction, these methods will

be integrated to the INSET program.

The study revealed that workshops and discussions were preferred as the

instructional methods of INSET programs. Diary studies and peer observations

found to be the least popular among the participants. Observations were

accepted as important to some extent; however, the findings indicated that

trainees should be trained on observation and feedback giving strategies in

order to preserve a cooperative working atmosphere.

The analysis of the data collection instruments revealed that both the

instructors and the administrator prefer the collaboration of internal trainers

with outside professionals in the field of ELT. The dominant view among the

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participants is that guest speakers should be invited to the institution as part of

INSET programs.

5.3.2. The professional needs of the instructors at TOBB TU, DFL that

should be addressed by an in-service training program.

The second research question aimed at pinpointing the needs of the

instructors. The analysis of the triangulated data revealed that participants did

not indicate a high degree of need for most of the items in the questionnaire. In

light of the quantitative and qualitative data analysis, it was found that the

below mentioned items should be addressed in INSET programs that will be

designed in the 2007-2008 academic year:

1- Teaching speaking skills

2- Teaching pronunciation

3- Written and oral error correction

4- Promoting student autonomy

5- Dealing with classroom management problems

6- Teaching mixed-ability groups

7- Raising language awareness of students

8- Reflecting on their own experience

Items that hold lesser priority for the instructors include:

1- Giving written and oral feedback to students

2- Giving instructions

3- Lesson planning

Schön (1987) states that teachers must change and develop their practice in

reflective and constructive ways to keep pace with change. Professional

development is expected to be a career long feature of teaching. Likewise, the

questionnaire analysis revealed that the instructors would like to be trained on

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how to reflect on their own teaching in order to better themselves as

professionals.

5.3.3. The difference between novice and experienced instructors in terms

of their needs and expectations from an in-service training program.

The third research question focused on determining whether the

professional needs of instructors differ in terms of experience. According to

Dubin and Wong (1990), novice and experienced teachers benefit differently

from INSET courses. Experienced teachers may benefit from actually trying

out new methods in a simulated situation before taking them back to their

classrooms. However, their need for practice is directed toward other matters

than is inexperienced teachers’ need.

The t-test results revealed that there was a statistical significance between

the answers of novice and experienced instructors concerning ‘teaching

vocabulary,’ ‘teaching grammar’ and ‘improving in written and oral correction

strategies.’ It was found that experienced teachers are particularly interested in

training sessions on teaching grammar, teaching vocabulary, and improving

written and oral correction strategies. A comparison of the t-test results

demonstrated, however, that instructors’ needs and expectations show

homogenous characteristics; this, in general, INSET content should address

both groups at the same time.

The analysis also revealed that novice instructors are more interested than

experienced instructors in improving in the following four items, even though

the mean scores of these were not found to be statistically significant:

1- Dealing with Classroom Management Problems

2- Raising Language Awareness of their Students

3- Lesson Planning

4- Teaching Mixed-ability Groups

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5.4. A Proposed Model for an Ongoing INSET program in TOBB ETU’s

DFL

In-service programs should be planned with the active participation of

those who are to be the benefactors. Interest surveys should be one approach to

determining the needs and interests. Leaders should recognize the need to

stimulate interest and assist staff members in recognizing needs (Harris &

Bessent, 1994). Therefore, the findings of the study will shed light on the

design of the INSET program.

This study, which was carried out to explore the professional needs of

instructors in TOBB ETU’s DFL, indicates that instructors consider in-service

training programs to be a part of their professional development and that they

would generally like to attend the program. In light of the literature review and

the results of the study, a model for the INSET design of the prospective In-

service Training Unit in TOBB ETU’s DFL is proposed below.

The findings of the study reveal that INSET programs should cater to the

individual needs of the trainees and should provide the staff with an ongoing

in-service opportunity. As some of the instructors stated that they did not want

INSET programs to be a burden on their shoulders, the instructors should be

thoroughly informed about the following aims of the INSET model:

1- to enhance teacher quality

2- to provide continual teacher development activities

3- to maximize the job satisfaction level of the teachers

4- to sustain student success by enabling the teachers to put into practice what

they have gained from INSET programs and by making use of the

principles of learner-centered instruction.

5- to equip the teachers with theoretical knowledge to a certain extent and

focus on practical teaching skills that can be used in actual classroom

environment.

6- to enable the teachers to be reflective practitioners

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7- to provide the trainees with knowledge about recent developments in the

field and to encourage them to participate in seminars, conferences and the

like.

Based on the findings, the researcher recommends the organizational

structure of TOBB ETU, DFL in the below figure:

Trainees

↔

Trainers Administration

Figure 6. The organizational structure of INSET design for TOBB ETU, DFL

As seen in the above figure, the program will focus on the individual needs

of the instructors and every party will have a say in the decision-making

process. Similarly, there will be interaction between all the parties. Trainees,

trainers and the administration will provide input to the program in different

ways. Trainees will contribute with their classroom experiences, reflections

and interactions. Trainers will share their expertise with the trainees and

transmit their knowledge to them. Administration will provide support and

finance for the professional development of the instructors. Moreover, different

programs will be designed for different purposes, ie. a program for the

Curriculum and Materials Development Unit, for the Testing and Evaluation

Unit or orientation programs for newly hired instructors, to name a few.

Instructors’ Needs

Decision- making Cycle & Interaction

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According to Woodward (1991), the organizing principle of ongoing

teacher development programs should be bottom-up. When program content is

designed by taking consideration of the expectations of teachers in a bottom-up

manner, the effectiveness of the program increases. This model proposes that

there will be a democratic compromise between teachers, trainers and the

administration in determining the areas to be addressed. By this means, rapport

between the parties will be increased; for teachers will acknowledge the

importance and the value of INSET practices if their ideas are taken into

consideration. In this sense, the proposed model adopts the principles of

Woodward.

The findings of the study demonstrated that, the program should be based

on the principles of reflective teaching proposed by Nunan (1989). According

to this principle, INSET programs should be experiential; problem-centered,

developmental and open-ended. Schön (1987) also put forwards the reflective

model that enables the trainees to reflect on their teaching practices. By taking

into consideration Nunan’s (1989) and Schön’s (1987) models, the researcher

proposes a reflective model which integrates the exploratory model of Palmer

(1993). Reflection and feedback sessions will be implemented after the

activities like workshops, discussions and observations.

An additional finding of the study was that the instructors would like to be

in the center of the program. As seen in the below figure, trainees and their

classroom needs are in the center of the model. Hence, discussions, workshops

and observations will be the preferred instructional methods. These three types

of activities will constitute the practical side of the program. Still, instructors

reported that they like the incorporation of theory and practice in INSET

sessions. Theory input will be provided by internal trainers and guest speakers.

In addition, instructors will be encouraged to take part in both in-house

seminars and conferences and those organized by other universities or English

teaching institutes.

The below figure visually displays the model proposed by the researcher:

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FEEDBACK SESSIONS REFLECTION REFLECTION SESSIONS SESSIONS

REFLECTION GROUP DISCUSSIONS & FEEDBACK SESSIONS (Linking theory & practice)

COLLABORATION WITH 1- OTHER UNIVERSITIES 2- INGED 3- THE BRITISH COUNCIL etc.

Figure 7. The proposed model for INSET program in TOBB ETU’s DFL

Observations will be conducted twice an academic year. One of them will

be trainer observation whereas one will be done by peers but both will be for

developmental purposes. Trainees will learn from each other, share ideas and

will be trained on feedback giving strategies. Observations will not be used for

evaluation purposes.

WORKSHOPS

DISCUSSIONS

(PEER) OBSERVATIONS

THEORY INPUT ( Internal Trainers& Guest Speakers)

SEMINARS, CONFERENCES

Trainee needs and their classrooms

Trainers &Trainees

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In the above figure, trainers act as facilitators and try to help trainees

explore their own classrooms and resources. Group discussions based on

trainees’ observation of lessons and consequent reflection upon their

experiences will be held. Ongoing feedback is a crucial part of the INSET

model as it facilitates learning and improvement of the trainees. In addition,

regular feedback is essential to determine to what extent trainees’ needs are

met and to monitor their degree of satisfaction with the program.

As part of the training practices there will be regular follow-up feedback

sessions to enable the trainees to reflect on their own performances or to check

to what extent they have internalized the input they received. As the trainees

and their classroom experiences will constitute the core of the program,

trainees will be active in the sessions via discussions and workshops. The

instructors will have the opportunity to examine their classroom challenges,

identify their problems and find solutions to the problems.

Woodward (1991) proposes that attendance at ongoing teacher

development programs should be non-compulsory. Based on the findings of the

data collection instruments, it is suggested by the researcher that there be an

understanding between the administration, Teacher Training Unit and the

instructors concerning attendance. As some of the instructors might have

attended various training programs with similar topics before, the instructors

will be asked whether they would like to attend that particular session.

Otherwise, the training programs cannot fully satisfy or benefit some of the

instructors who reported that they preferred the sessions to have optional

attendance due to not having an individual need for some of the topics that will

be dealt in the INSET programs.

As the proposed program is for developmental purposes, it will be regular

and continual. Throughout the academic year, there will be teacher training

activities at least three hours a week. The type of activities will change

regularly; and alterations to the schedule and duration will be made according

to emerging needs. There will be no certification or exam at the end of the

program, as the aim is not to make the trainees compete, but rather, to help

them develop.

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It is clear from the findings of this study that the administration is willing

to allocate a budget for the professional development of instructors within the

resources available. Therefore, it would be appreciated if the administration

continuously provided the opportunity for the instructors to attend

national/international seminars and workshops and to subscribe to journals

related to ELT. These gestures will, in turn, contribute to the enhancement of

teacher quality and an increase in personnel satisfaction.

The researcher believes that this model will appeal to the needs of

the instructors and expectations of the administration. The instructors

will have a chance to internalize the input they receive from the INSET

program. By this means, they will be more effective teachers developing

continuously.

5.5. Implications for Further Study

This study was designed to explore the professional needs of the

instructors in TOBB ETU’s DFL, to examine their perceptions of in-

service training programs, and to the ideal methodology for in-service

training programs. In light of the findings, a further study could be

conducted on the question of what models best reflect the philosophy and

the objectives of the INSET program that will be designed in 2007-2008

academic year.

The current study included only the instructors teaching the

preparatory classes. A more comprehensive study involving all the

English language instructors at TOBB ETU could be conducted in order

to determine the overlapping and differing needs of instructors offering

departmental English courses and those teaching preparatory classes. If

such a study were undertaken, the prospective INSET program could

address all the instructors in the DFL.

When the Teacher Training Unit is established in the 2007-2008

academic year, another study could be carried out to explore the trainers’

perceptions and expectations of professional development, the scope and

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sequence of the INSET programs’ design, and ideal methods to be

implemented.

Furthermore, the findings of this study might be beneficial for other

institutions that would like to establish an in-service training unit similar

to the prospective unit at TOBB University of Economics and

Technology. Also, institutions that already have such a unit might

benefit from the findings of the study and make modifications to their

own programs, if necessary. By this means, the scope of this study could

be enlarged to incorporate other contexts.

5.6. Limitations of the Study

The first limitation of this study was that the plentiful data obtained

through this study was limited to the number of participants (N=39).

Therefore, although the data obtained from this study could shed light on

similar studies, this study only provides data about this particular setting.

Another limitation is that only 10 instructors could participate in all

three stages of the study, although there were 39 instructors who

completed the questionnaire. There were some discrepancies between the

questionnaire results, the analysis results of class video recordings, and

those of instructors’ interview statements.

5.7. Conclusion

By means of triangulation of data, the study demonstrated that both the staff

and head administrator of TOBB ETU’s view INSET programs as essential

components of teacher development. Providing sustainable INSET programs that

aim to enhance teacher quality and personnel satisfaction, will contribute to the

success of the institution as well as to the success of the students. Incorporating

project-based studies and new developments in the field of ELT, like web-based

or learner-centered instruction, will add value to the INSET programs. Personnel

satisfaction will be best ensured by taking into consideration instructors’ needs

116

and expectations. Arranging the frequency and the duration of INSET programs

according to the workload of the instructors will enable the instructors to be more

committed to their profession and to the workplace. Furthermore, positive changes

in teachers’ attitudes will lead to the establishment of a better working

environment and also will enhance the intrinsic motivation of the staff. An INSET

program could be designed at TOBB ETU based on the findings of this study.

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APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

Questionnaire

PART I-

Please tick the appropriate choice.

Perceptions about in-service training Novice Experienced Whole

1

In-service teacher training programs are a means of professional development at the Department of Foreign Languages. 4,4 4,5 4,5

2

An in-service teacher training program maintains a balance between the needs of the institution and the individual teacher. 4,1 4,5 4,3

3

In-service training programs should provide me with practical teaching skills such as classroom organization, skills integration, giving instructions, error correction etc. 4,3 4,3 4,3

4

In-service training programs should introduce activities that increase the trainee teacher’s language proficiency 3,5 2,9 3,2

5

In-service training programs should encourage trainee teachers to follow activities such as conferences, seminars, recent articles. 4,3 4,6 4,4

6

In-service training programs should keep the trainee teachers updated with recent methods, theories and trends in the field of ELT. 4,6 4,6 4,6

7

In-service training programs should guide the trainee teachers to reflect on their own teaching. 4,8 4,6 4,7

8 In-service training programs should be conducted by an external trainer 4,7 3,8 4,3

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9

In-service training programs should be conducted by the ‘Teacher Training Unit’ in the University. 3,0 2,7 2,8

10 In-service training programs shouldn’t be compulsory. 3,5 3,2 3,3

11

For professional development, all teachers, novice and experienced, should take part in in-service programs. 3,5 3,6 3,6

12

All teachers, novice and experienced, needn’t attend the same in-service programs. 3,7 3,6 3,6

13

Administrators, within the resources available, should allocate budget for staff to attend in-service teacher training programs. 4,7 4,6 4,6

14

I would regularly attend the in-service training program in the Department of Foreign Languages, if conducted. 4,0 4,0 4,0

Perceived Needs of instructors Novice Experienced Whole

15 It’s necessary for me to improve in teaching grammar. 2,6 3,3 2,9

16 It’s necessary for me to improve in teaching listening skills. 2,9 3,4 3,2

17 It’s necessary for me to improve in teaching reading skills. 2,8 3,2 3,0

18 It’s necessary for me to improve in teaching writing skills. 2,7 3,4 3,0

19 It’s necessary for me to improve in teaching speaking skills. 3,0 3,7 3,3

20 It’s necessary for me to improve in teaching vocabulary. 2,8 3,3 3,0

21 It’s necessary for me to improve in teaching pronunciation. 3,2 3,6 3,4

22

It’s necessary for me to improve in giving oral and written feedback to my students. 2,5 3,1 2,7

23 It’s necessary for me to improve in giving instructions. 2,4 2,8 2,6

24 It’s necessary for me to improve in written and oral error correction. 2,5 3,1 2,7

25 It’s necessary for me to improve in lesson planning. 3,0 2,8 2,9

26 It’s necessary for me to improve on promoting student autonomy. 3,3 3,4 3,3

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27

It’s necessary for me to improve on dealing with classroom management problems. 3,1 2,9 3,0

28 It’s necessary for me to improve in teaching mixed-ability groups. 3,6 3,6 3,6

29

It’s necessary for me to improve on raising language awareness of my students. 3,7 3,2 3,4

30

It’s necessary for me to improve on promoting collaboration among my students. 3,0 3,2 3,1

31 It’s necessary for me to improve on determining my students’ needs. 2,8 3,2 3,0

32 It’s necessary for me to improve on motivating my students. 2,9 3,2 3,1

33

There is a need to set up a ‘Teacher Training Unit’ in TOBB ETU, the Department of Foreign Languages. 3,8 3,9 3,8

Instructional Methodology Novice Experienced Whole

34 In-service training programs should include peer observations. 3,2 2,8 3,0

35 In-service training programs should include microteaching activities. 3,5 3,5 3,5

36 In-service training programs should include workshops. 4,0 4,3 4,2

37 In-service training programs should include dialog journals. 3,8 3,5 3,6

38 In-service training programs should include audio/video recordings. 3,6 3,5 3,5

39 In-service training programs should include diary studies. 2,7 2,6 2,6

40 In-service training programs should include discussions. 4,3 4,2 4,2

41

The delivery of information in in-service training programs needn’t be trainer-centered. 4,0 4,2 4,1

42

The flow of information in in-service training programs should be trainee- centered. 3,4 4,2 3,8

(1) Microteaching: A teaching method whereby the teacher reviews a videotape of the lesson after each session. Teachers find out what has worked, which aspects have fallen short, and what needs to be done to enhance their teaching technique.

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(2) Workshops: Teachers work individually or in groups to prepare something, such as classroom materials, teaching aids or lesson plans and try these in their lessons. (3) Dialog journals: 1- Teacher and students write to each other to interact about classroom matters. 2- Teacher analyzes these to gain more insights about his/her classroom practices and the students (4) Audio/video recordings: 1- Teacher selects an aspect of his/her teaching 2- S/he videotapes classroom interaction 3- S/he transcribes the relevant parts 4- S/he analyzes the transcribed parts 5- S/he decides what changes in his/her teaching are required (5) Diary Studies: 1- Teacher keeps a personal diary over a period of time (e.g one semester ) 2- S/he analyzes it to learn more about classroom teaching/ learning (6) Discussions: 1- Teachers supply their findings from classroom investigations 2- Teachers share ideas in groups about how to solve problems Part II “In-service training programs should be continual and ongoing.” (Woodward, 1991) 1. Considering the above mentioned statement, what is your opinion of the frequency of an ideal in-service training program? ……………………………………………………………………… 2. Could you please suggest a name for the ‘Teacher Training Unit’ to be set up in TOBB ETU, the Department of Foreign Languages? ( ………………………………………………………………………… 3. Please add any other comments you have about the in-service teacher training practices at TOBB ETU, the Department of Foreign Languages? ……………………………………………………………………………

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Part III -Personal Information Please tick the appropriate option for yourself. 1. Gender a. ( ) Female b. ( ) Male 2. Department of Graduation a. ( ) Department of English Language Teaching

b. ( ) Department of English Language and Literature c. ( ) Department of Translation and Interpretation d. ( ) Department of Linguistics e. ( ) Other (Please mention) ………………………………………. 3. Educational Background

a. ( ) Bachelar of Arts b. ( ) Master of Arts completed or in progress c. ( ) PhD completed or in progress

4. Teaching Experience (in general)

a. ( ) 0-1 year b. ( ) 2-3 years c. ( ) 4-5 years d. ( ) 6-10 years e. ( ) 11 years and more

5. Teaching Experience (in TOBB ETU)

a. ( ) 0-1 year b. ( ) 2-3 years c. ( ) 4 years

6. Have you ever attended an in service teacher training program in ELT? a.( ) Yes. b. ( ) No (If yes, please explain location, date and duration) ………………………………………………………………………………………… 6. Do you have any teaching certificates? a.( ) Yes. (If yes, please specify) b. ( ) No …………………………………………………………………………………………

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APPENDIX B

SUBJECT CONSENT FORM Değerli Öğretim Elemanları, Bu anket Ortadoğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi, Đngiliz Dili Öğretimi bölümü Yüksek Lisans tez çalışmamın bir parçası olup TOBB Ekonomi ve Teknoloji Üniversitesi, Yabancı Diller Bölümü’nde görevli okutmanların ‘Hizmet-içi Eğitim” konusundaki yaklaşımları ve Bölümde böyle bir birim oluşturulması halinde beklentilerini ortaya koymak üzere düzenlenmiştir. Ekli belgede bulunan anket cevaplarınız tez sonuçlarını doğrudan etkileyecek ancak verileriniz hiçbir şekilde başka bir çalışma için kullanılmayacaktır. Katılımcı olarak haklarınız korunacaktır. Bütün sorulara samimiyetle cevap vermeniz sağlıklı sonuçlar elde edebilmek açısından önemlidir. Cevaplarınız ve kimliğiniz gizli tutulacaktır. Katılımınız yaklaşık olarak 25 dakika alacaktır.

Bir sorunuz olması durumunda 0 312 292 41 86 no’lu telefondan benimle irtibata geçebilirsiniz. Bu çalışmaya zaman ve emek harcadığınız için şimdiden teşekkür ederim. Araştırmacı : Đnci GÜLTEKĐN TOBB Ekonomi ve Teknoloji Üniversitesi Yabancı Diller Bölümü Ben, …………………………, yukarıdaki bilgileri okudum ve bu çalışmaya gönüllü olarak katılmayı kabul ediyorum. Đmza: _____________ Date:_____________ What’s In-service Teacher Training ? In-service Teacher Training (INSET) programs provide life-long support for teachers when appropriately designed. They offer a way for ongoing teacher development, which one can find remedies for the problems resulting from first year stress or later burnout. These programs are seen as a pre-requisite for job satisfaction and career development. Teachers attend INSET programs for several reasons :

- to improve their command of English - to cope with professional crisis - to learn theory - to learn techniques - to experience new approaches to teaching

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APPENDIX C

OBSERVATION TOOL FOR IDENTIFYING TEACHERS’ NEEDS

5-Strongly

Agree

4-Agree

3-Neutral

2-Disagree

1-Strongly

Disagree

Not

Applicable

Self presentation and classroom persona : T established and maintained rapport with the Ss. T used humor T used positive reinforcement T appeared self-confident and prepared T moved around the classroom T used his/her tone of voice, body language, gestures effectively

T used grammar and vocabulary correctly and acceptable forms of English

Classroom Management : T dealt with disruptive, non-participant and chatty students skillfully

T used appropriate strategies to maintain classroom control and discipline

T managed to remain calm but firm when faced with a conflict

T managed to cope with all sorts of problems (technical problems, pacing etc)

Classroom Procedures and lesson planning: T uttered the aim of the lesson clearly T used a variety of teaching tools (audio-visual aids, handouts, print materials, board etc.)

T used a variety of teaching techniques ( role plays, peer teaching, discussion, group work, pair work)

T checked student understanding, attention, and interest constantly

T followed the lesson plan and managed time efficiently

T used sufficient, meaningful and clearly illustrated instructional examples

T related new material to previously learned material ( or to future topics)

Students were interested in the lesson Giving feedback :

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T gave feedback to let the Ss how well they performed

T gave feedback to acknowledge a correct answer T gave feedback to indicate an incorrect answer T gave feedback yet sometimes not appropriate to the context

T did not give feedback in the right form / manner T gave feedback by repeating the Ss’ answers or sentences

T gave feedback by summarizing what the students have said

T gave feedback by criticizing the Ss for the kind of response they provided

T gave feedback by explaining orally why the given response was incorrect

T gave feedback by making fun of the students for the kind of response they provided

T did not give feedback at all

Error Correction T corrected errors yet some are not in the right time and form

T gave the correct form and passed on to the next point

T indicated error and tried to elicit correction from the S

T indicated error and tried to elicit correction from other Ss in class

T did not indicate error but asked the S to repeat T indicated error and gave the rule about language T did not correct errors Giving Instructions : T used appropriate instructional language for the level of the Ss

T got the Ss’ attention before giving the instructions

T read the instructions T wrote the instructions T acted out/ demonstrated the instructions T asked comprehension questions to check understanding

T repeated the instructions

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APPENDIX D

Interview Questions

(Chairperson of the Department of Foreign Languages)

1- Mr. Şahinel, what is your your academic and professional background including your experience in TOBB ETU? 2- How do you perceive the concept of ‘professional development? 3- What is currently being done in the department in terms of teacher development? How do you feel about what has been done so far? 4- Do you think there is a need to set up a ‘teacher training unit’ in the department? 5- What kind of challenges in terms of the practices, do you think there will be, if an in-service training unit is set up? 6- What should be the scope of the teacher training programs in the department? (theories, methods and new trends, teaching practical skills, classroom management etc…) 7- Who should be the target group of training all teachers, novice, experienced or all together? 8- Do you think teachers should volunteer to participate in teacher training programs or should the administration decide it?

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APPENDIX E

Sample Interview Transcription of an Instructor

Note : The names mentioned below interview are pseudonyms.

Beren : Neslihan, when the needs of the instructors were analyzed, it was found in the questionnaire that the highest average belonged to ‘teaching mixed ability groups’. (3,6) and teaching pronunciation wheras the lowest mean scores were about giving instructions (2,6) and ‘giving written and oral feedback’(2,7). How do you evaluate these findings?

Neslihan : Well, actually, I must tell you that I’m a bit surprised because I would expect just the opposite results because giving instructions and giving written and or oral feedback is a very important component of class management and teaching in general. So hııım, the reason why people thought that they needed that much might be because people do not have the opportunity to observe themselves as teachers. Maybe they are not aware that their way of giving feedback is not sufficient enough. So we tend to …. You know, as teachers jump into correct errors just say ‘No! That’s wrong, sth like that. So I think the reason could be that the teachers are not aware of the importance of it. So they just think telling the Ss ‘O.K, get into groups, get into pairs, do it’ is giving instruction. Maybe what they understand from giving instruction is different, so I think the keyword here is ‘awareness’ and the same I’m going to say about ‘teaching mixed ability groups’. This is a really hot topic nowadays, you know learning styles and everything. So every teacher knows a bit about it. So they might be curious about it, they might want to improve themselves about it. So, as for pronunciation, I remember when I go back to my bachelor years, nobody told me how to instruct pronunciation so I will also think you know. Maybe I should be more informed about it. So I think the keyword here is in short, to cut it short “awareness”. So if you are aware of your weaknesses, you seek solution for it but if you aren’t aware of it, you just say you do not need it. Beren : If you go through the questionnaire items again, which ones do you think were supposed to be highly needed in you opinion? Do you think they differ among novice and experienced instructors ? Neslihan : O.K, when I … I’m just going through the points here to remember it but I couldn’t find it …. This one right … Hımm … O.K. So in my point of view, the … hımm improving oneself in listening skills, reading skills etc. In four skills and the subskills which are grammar and vocabulary, are not so important compared to some other things like class management, motivating Ss, and giving feedback to students because I think we learn this already in bachelor years, so we’re all ELT graduates, we know how to do it.

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Beren : At least most of us…

Neslihan : ..... but these things like, you know, class management, motivating and feedback …. These are things that you cannot be instructed at school. You just learn it by doing and unfortunately by trial and error. So … of course, it shouldn’t be left to trial and error but we’ll come to that but the INSET program should focus most on those and as far novice and experienced teachers, I do not see a different strengths and weakness so it depends on the teacher. Beren : The mean score about classroom managament about the questionnaire was 3,0 ( novice:3,1 ; exp:2,9) Do you find these results realistic? Why ? Why not? Please refer to observation findings. Neslihan : So meaning that the novice teachers thought they needed less class management. Right ?

Beren : They needed more because 5 is the highest need.

Neslihan : O.K. Well, when I … there’s no of course a huge difference. Well I think I find it realistic. You know why, 3 out of 5 shows that they are somewhere in the middle and they’re aware that they need sth. But maybe they did not diagnose exactly what they need. So I think, it is O.K, it’s realistic. Again I will come to the term ‘awareness’ because this is a really key term in this issue. Beren : You’ve mentioned in your questionnaire that novice and experienced instructors should attend the same INSET programs. Why ? Neslihan : Well, hımm I believe in learning from each other. We, in all areas, in all professions but especially in teaching, we learn from each other and we should interact. So if you separate teachers in 2 different groups as novice and experienced, you immediately introduce a clear cut distinction. So… instead of building a sense of community, you are actually separating two groups and hımm, therefore, hindering the interaction which will be very beneficial because also during the sessions, people learn from each other. I mean the interaction should not be only from the presenter to the audience but they are also interacting so I think, having the whole in one place, novice and experienced will hımm, foster a lot of interaction and this in turn will produce, you know, experience brought into the situation and sometimes experienced teachers are really burned out. They think ‘O.K., I do not want to do it anymore, or I know this already.’ But seeing the younger ones and their enthusiasm, their motivation and what they do, they might also become, you know, hıımm, curious again about improving themselves. So they learn from each other. Beren : What kind of an INSET design do you expect to find in terms of scope and sequence when the unit is set up? Neslihan : Well, scope is a nice word, first of all. Whom should we include? To what extent etc. as I told before the group should not be separated but depending on the needs, of course, you can make up smaller groups or whole group. I mean, all the

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instructors, if it’s a general topic or including, let’s see, only the materials office, only the testing office depending actually on the content and also depending on the needs, because you can have regular workshops on generals topics. Hıı… in which all of the people participate but you can also have some needs for specific group of teachers, let’s say, newcomers etc., who have orientation problems, so you can have a session for only them. But it all, I mean … we should do a needs analysis and decide on the syllabus of the training and well …. that’s all I guess. Beren : What about the methodology of training ? What methods should/not be incorporated? Why ? Why not? Neslihan : O.K. Let me start from the ‘not’ part. O.K, now the peer observation. Peer observation is one of the ‘IN’ topics, you know, for the last 10 years. Everybody, each institution has tried some of the peer observation techniques. Well, it’s good. I mean, the intention is good and people do it with goodwill. But it really has to be perfectly structured and the person who is doing it should really know what he or she is doing. But it might, hıımmm, destroy the positive, supportive atmosphere in the institution. People might feel threatened. So the person who’s observing really should know what he or she should observe and he or she should have very good relationships with the people. The people should trust him or her. Well, those are really challenging things, what I’ve just listened. It’s very difficult. So peer observation should be done very carefully.

.......And the second ‘do not’ for me is again, diary journals. It is a wonderful technique in reality. But we have done it in my previous institutions and it turned out to be a really dull activity where teachers are just writing ‘I did this today, I did that today.’ I mean, that’s not the aim of it. You should be reflecting and etc. So hımm, the teachers gather pages of sheets for a weekly schedule ‘I did this today, I did that today.’ But when you look at that, you just find facts. You do not see any reflections. But this should be like, you know, portfolio thing.

Beren : Then, we should start by improving them about how to reflect on their own teaching. Neslihan : Exactly! Exactly. So you know, step by step and therefore, you know, it needs a huge effort, investment and the investment and also investing in people. So if it’s done properly, it’s great but unfortunately, so far I haven’t seen such a practice. Beren : I hope we can accomplish this. What about the things that should be incorporated ? Neslihan : I’m in favor of workshops, because due to the design of the workshops, you have a lot of hands-on activities. You should also consider our colleagues as learners who have mixed abilities, learning styles and multiple intelligences so when you have workshop, you have hıııı…. You are catering for linguistics, verbal, spatial, kinesthetic. Everybody has sth. to like in such environments. So I like workshops. They’re more active not just like listening and nodding you know.

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And recording is wonderful, you know, I asked you whether I could, after your study, take my recording and have a look at it, because I’m really curious. It must be a wonderful feeling to see yourself. When , I’m really looking forward to it actually. That recording thing, in my point of view, would work best.

Beren : Some instructors mentioned that they did not want INSET programs to be a burden on their shoulders. How do you evaluate this comment ? Neslihan : Well, I do not want to be too harsh but I’m speechless. I mean, it is not a burden on their shoulder. On the contrary, it is a means to get …. that will enable you to get rid of your burdens on your shoulder because you learn techniques and you get materials and you know how to deal with your problems. Forget about all the academic staff, you share with your colleagues, your problems. Even that, just a psychological aspect is a great deal of thing and this feeling of community. This feeling of belonging and you know, if there was a teacher training unit there, if I had a problem with my class, that unit would be the address to go first. Even when I need a shoulder to cry on. You know, that’s very important. So, I was very surprised that, to hear that people really said sth like that

Beren: I hope after the establishment of the Unit, people will change their minds. It would be wonderful, wouldn’t it ?

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APPENDIX F

Sheet for the Poll about the INSET Unit Name

Name :

21.05.2007 Dear Instructor,

You were previously handed a questionnaire as part of a thesis study conducted to determine needs and expectations of the instructors concerning the establishment of a Teacher Training Unit. In this questionnaire, you were asked to suggest a name for the Teacher Training Unit to be set up in TOBB ETU, the Department of Foreign Languages. The below mentioned expressions are the suggested names found out as a result of the questionnaires. Please rank the name which you like most. Upon this poll, the most favorite name will be determined.

ETU Teachers’ Guide

Professional Development Center

Lifelong Learning Unit

TESL ( Training for English as a Second Language)

TOBB Trainees

CTC ( Cooperative / Collaborative Teachers / Teaching Center )

Teacher Updating Center ( TUC)

In service Training Unit

Teachers in Training ( TIT)

Support Center for Teachers

TTDU

Training Unit for DFL Teachers at TOBB ETU

TOBB TETU

Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach

Energy Unit

Teacher Training Unit

Happy Hour

Learning To Teach

TOBB IDC ( Instructor Development Center )

In-service Training Unit

Center of Caring and Sharing (CCS) Thank you for your participation and cooperation.